


Back to Haunt

by Gears112, phantomthief_fee



Series: Reunion AU [16]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Angst and Feels, Dangerous Magic Ink, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, Dysfunctional Family, Everyone's still recovering, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Secrets, Gen, Joey is mischief, Magic Ink, Multi, Pregnancy, Sammy is an awkward dork, Sequel, Susie is in all the denial
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-29 13:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 32,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15074042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gears112/pseuds/Gears112, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: Continuing after the events of 'Return to the Studio', everyone is easing into a different kind of normal, but before anyone can be settled in fully, some secrets from the studio come to light, and the magic of the ink and the Ink Machine itself brings some unsavory attention back to the studio and the magic wielded by those associated with it.





	1. Chapter 1

...

“And we carefully scoop the sugar…” Robert said softly, guiding Ruby’s small hands into the sugar bin and scooping the correct amount. “And place it in the bowl of dry ingredients.” Susie smiled, watching as the former searcher teach the girl, the other searchers surrounded them; Robert had gather enough of his old memories that Henry was able to break the enchantment and the first the man did was flip off Susie before scurrying into the kitchen. She couldn’t help but smile at how things were slowly turning into their own form of normal. “Very, good, very good…”

“Never Fear, the Drew and Klein's are here~!” Joey’s boisterous voice boomed through the house as the man and his niece and nephew bursted in. Well, more Joey and Isaac made an entrance; Rachel was beyond embarrassed by her uncle’s antics and the fact she had to be babysat like she was a two year old for the next month and a half. “And I smell something wonderful~”

“We’re making cookies!!” Ruby exclaimed. “Me and Uncle Robert are making cookies! And Aunt Susie is watching!”

“Ah, the rivalry continues?” Joey asked as he came into the kitchen. “Clearly I can confirm the cheerful child isn’t caught in the cookie crossfire?” Susie gave the man a death glare and he chuckled. “Alright, alright, I’ll back off.” Isaac came in, dragging his sister as well. His sister huffed and sat herself in a chair near the table. “Don’t mind Rachel, Ruby,” Joey said quickly. “She’s mad at being in trouble.”

“I’m not a little kid!” Rachel snapped at her uncle. “I don’t need to be watched 24/7!”

“Aunt Nancy said you pulled a dumb by going into the studio and Uncle Murray had to save you.” Ruby pointed out innocently and Joey hid his smile behind his hand as the teenager glared at the toddler.

“It was not dumb, there were cars-”

“Oh look at that, the cookies are ready to be put in the oven.” Robert said loudly, hoping to derail the conversation. “Now Ruby, what’s the next step that we’re going to do?” Ruby scrunched her face as she thought.

“We’re going to get the oven mittens!”

“That’s right! Can you show Isaac where they are?” Ruby took the bait and took Isaac and showed off where the mitts were and how to wear them, which Isaac happily played along. Rachel however fumed, staring out the window.

“Rachel,” Susie started to say before she paused, looking pale and she grabbed the counter.

“Miss Campbell?” Joey started to ask, before looking at Robert, as if asking his permission to go forward. Robert came over to Susie.

“You alright?”

“I-I don’t know,” She admitted. “I’ve been feeling kinda nauseous the past few days, but I figured it was some stomach bug…” She chuckled nervously. “I’m sure it’ll be fine…” Joey pursed his lips.

“Miss Campbell...Susie, are you sure?” He turned to his nephew. “Isaac, Ruby, can you go find Mrs. Ross?” The two nodded and headed upstairs.

“Uncle Drew…” Rachel asked slowly, basically speaking for the others. “What do you need Mrs. Ross for?” She made a face. “You don’t think Miss Campbell’s pregnant, do you?” Susie looked at Joey with a face and the man in question shrugged.

“I was more thinking that she’d be able to help get some tea made or have something to settle her stomach, but considering what I walked in on 2 weeks before I replaced her role, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Robert and Rachel slowly turned to Susie, whose face had turned beet red as she glared at her former boss.

“You mother fucker…”

.

* * *

 

.

“And the results regarding the studio?” Mr. Cohen sighed.

“Well, considering the horror show we stumbled upon, the construction company dropped the project and left town faster than one could say ‘What about your refund?’.” He said simply. “The city council is currently discussing options on what to do with the land.” He looked at Henry. “I put my two cents in and suggested that the land go in your name, as you were the co-founder of the studio.” Henry smiled.

“T-Thank you Mr. Cohen,” The man offered a lidded look.

“Well it’s either that or offering the place to his sister, and you know how that would’ve gone down.” Henry chuckled nervously. “Something out of the  _ Caddyshack _ , I swear…” He sighed and handed some papers to Henry. “These are copies of the agenda for the council meeting next week if you want to watch along, or wait till I’m back with more firmer news.” Henry nodded.

“Thanks, I’ll have to see what the others have planned..” He chuckled before the secretary came in.

“Mr. Cohen sir, there’s a call for you…” Mr. Cohen raised an eyebrow before nodding.

“If you don’t mind Henry,” He said before putting the call on speaker. “Cohen Finances, how may-”

“DON’T YOU FUCKING BE CALLING SAMMY!!”

“Susie, clean your mouth young lady! There’s a small child in here. Several in fact.”

“FUCK YOU DREW!!” 

“Mr. Cohen?” Isaac’s voice came through. “Is Mr. Ross there?”

“Yeah, I’m here…” Henry managed out, staring at Mr. Cohen, equally stunned and blown away by the very loud phone call.

“Um, Uncle Joey wants to ask if you can pick up-” There was a series of explicit words from Susie, which got muffled by Robert. “Um, can you pick up-What were they called again?”

“A Pregnancy test!” Came Joey’s voice. “Miss Campbell might have a bun in the oven~” 

“Sure thing, I’ll be there soon…” The call hung up and Mr. Cohen groaned, leaning onto his desk, burying his face in his hands.

“Lord help us all…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get some insight into Susie's backstory

Susie knew she’d made a lot of mistakes in her life. She’d burned a lot bridges to get to where she was now. Making friends wasn’t important. She had to make sure her name would be remembered. She knew she could be petty, selfish, and manipulative. She blamed her upbringing, perhaps in a rather selfish way. She’d been the youngest of 8 children born to a poor family, and the only girl. From the moment she’d been very young, she’d had to fight for everything she had. She learned quickly that no one was going to hand her anything. If she wanted something, she had to take it for herself. Her brothers picked on her constantly, until she learned how to fight back. After that, they never bothered her. She’d wanted so desperately to escape from the poverty she’d been born into. As soon as she was old enough to work, she threw herself into any job she could get her hands on. Nothing was beneath her. She waited tables, cleaned houses, anything she could get. Once she had enough money, she moved out of her family home and got a place of her own. She wanted to be as far away from her family as possible. She was determined not to end up like her mother, saddled with children she didn’t want, trapped in a loveless marriage. She would make her name known, she’d become famous. She was going places. When Joey found her, she’d been singing in a bar. It wasn’t an extremely high-class joint, but it was better than some of the dive bars she’d worked at in the past. Joey had come up to her after she’d finished singing, all smiles and sweet words.

“How would you like to come work for me?” He’d asked. She’d heard of him, of course. Everyone in town had. Not to mention, the Bendy cartoons were becoming rather popular.

“What kind of position are you offering?” She had to stay cool. She couldn’t let him know how excited she was to be noticed by someone in such a position of power.

“I’m in need of a voice actress.” Joey gave her a wide smile. “And I think you might be just what I’m looking for.”

“Why, Mr. Drew, I’d be honored.”

Working at Joey Drew Studios was a dream come true for her. Finally, she had some stable work. Not to mention, it was a better job than any she’d had before. It didn’t hurt that her coworkers were easy on the eyes. Susie allowed herself to become friends with the others in the studio. She was especially fond of Cordelia. The girl was like the little sister she’d never had. And, of course, there was Sammy. Susie had dated men in the past, but never for too long. She couldn’t let herself be sidetracked by romance. She had to keep moving forward. She had to make sure people knew her name. Still, she found herself growing closer to Sammy as each day passed.

“You have a lovely voice, you know.” Sammy would always tell her. “With you voicing her, Alice might be as popular as Bendy someday.”

“You really think so?” She couldn’t stop herself from blushing at that moment.

“Of course.” Sammy smiled softly at her. “I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t believe it.”

“You’re such a charmer.” She slapped his shoulder gently. “I bet you say that to all the girls.” Part of her wondered at that moment if she might actually be willing to get married. Sammy was a good man, he respected her for who she was. She was sure he wouldn’t object to her continuing to pursue her career. She’d come into work on that fateful day ready to ask Sammy where they wanted their relationship to go. Then she’d seen him in the recording booth with Allison, leaning over her and showing her something on the music stand. Her heart had stopped as she stood in the door to the music room. Susie had never considered herself to be the jealous type, but she’d always found herself jealous of Allison. Allison had everything Susie had never had. Allison had money, status. Susie knew nothing of Allison’s rocky relationship with her father. Seeing Allison with Sammy, it was like all her worst fears were coming true. She didn’t immediately say anything, turning and running out of the room. Cordelia was the one who found her, crying in one of Wally’s closets.

“What’s wrong?” Cordelia asked, kneeling before her.

“W-Why is that Allison girl with Sammy?” Susie asked through her tears.

“Oh…” Cordelia’s brow furrowed, and her mouth twisted in concern.

“What? What is it?” Susie felt her stomach started to drop.

“Joey just announced it this morning…” Cordelia began to wring her hands. “Allison is going to be voicing Alice from now on.”

“…What?” Susie felt cold. Her whole body began to shake. “But…But he said I was perfect. He told me I was the perfect Alice!”

“I-I don’t know what to tell you.” Cordelia flinched back. “I tried to ask him about it, but he wouldn’t talk to me.”

“Cordelia!” Sammy’s voice came from the music department. “I have some stuff I need you to take to Joey!”

“I’m coming.” Cordelia got to her feet, glancing at Susie. “Do you, um, want to talk to Sammy?” Susie hugged her knees, starting to cry again.

“Well…I’m here if you need me.” Cordelia gave her a smile before leaving. Susie stayed in the closet a long time, crying into her knees. Alice Angel was hers! She’d worked too hard to just let it be taken away from her like this! Her sadness quickly gave way to anger, and she stood up, storming down to Sammy’s office. He was in the middle of writing a song when she slammed the door open.

“Susie? Are you okay?” He got up, frowning. “You look like you’ve been crying.”

“How could you?!” She yelled, stamping her foot.

“How could I what?” Sammy asked, clearly rather confused.

“Alice Angel is mine!”

“Is this about Allison being the new voice of Alice?” Sammy crossed the room and took her hands in his. “If it helps, I honestly think your voice is better.”

“Then why were you with Allison in the recording booth?” Susie demanded, snatching her hands away. “Why aren’t you fighting this decision?!”

“Susie, it’s just a job.” Sammy tried to reach out for again, but she swatted his hands away.

“It’s not just a job!” She screamed. “Alice Angel is mine! Joey said I was perfect! He told me I was the perfect Alice Angel!”

“Yeah, well, Joey says a lot of things.” A hint of bitterness entered Joey’s voice. “He’ll tell you whatever it takes to get you to do what he wants.” Susie knew he was right in that regard. She’d always known Joey was an exceptional liar. But this wasn’t about Joey.

“I worked too hard to lose this.” Her voice dropped and she stared at the floor, her whole body beginning to shake. “She can’t take Alice away from me. She can’t.”

“Susie-”

“She has everything!” Susie looked up at him, her eyes burning with barely contained rage. “She’s had everything handed to her all her life! I’m not letting her take this away from me!”

“Susie, you’re being unreasonable.” He reached out for her. Her hand snaked out and connected with his cheek.

“I should have known I couldn’t trust you.” Susie was on the verge of tears again. Then she turned and stormed out. Things had spiraled out of control after that. She’d done terrible things, all in the name of reclaiming the role of Alice Angel. She should have listened to him. She shouldn’t have done any of what she’d done after that day. This was especially clear now that she’d had her conversation with Sammy. She wanted to make things right. She really did. But it seemed like an uphill battle. And now there was the possibility that she was pregnant. She was more than a little panicked by this idea. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t fantasized about having a family with Sammy in better days. But now? Sammy wanted nothing to do with her. She’d retreated to an upstairs room to hide and take in the situation. There was a tentative knock at the door and Cordelia’s voice filtered into the room. She must have just gotten back from work.

“Susie? Are you alright?”

“Go away,” Susie said weakly.

“I don’t think so.” The door opened a crack and Cordelia poked her head in. Susie looked up. She was huddled on a bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. Cordelia stepped in, closing the door behind her.

“Drew probably told you he thinks I’m pregnant, didn’t he?”

Cordelia nodded. She crossed the room to sit beside Susie on the bed. Susie didn’t pull away, although she avoided looking at the former intern. Her relationship with Cordelia had suffered after the incident with Sammy. Cordelia had never said anything to directly anger Susie, but Susie knew full well that her slander of Sammy had done nothing to endear her to the girl. They’d grown apart and eventually lost touch. Susie had assumed Sammy had turned Cordelia against her.

“Why are you here?” Susie asked after a few minutes of the two of them sitting there in silence. “I know you hate me, just like everyone else.”

“I never hated you.” Cordelia sighed. “I was angry with you, yes, but I never hated you.”

“You don’t need to lie.” Susie stared at her feet. “You idolized Sammy and I couldn’t say enough terrible things about him.”

“I’m not lying,” Cordelia said firmly. “You were always my friend, Susie. I could never bring myself to hate you.”

“But you were angry.”

“I was.” Cordelia nodded, staring off into the distance. “But I moved past it. I knew I couldn’t be angry at you forever. You disappeared and I had to move on.”

“Everyone moved on.” Susie side quietly. That was another thing that bothered her. The world had moved on without her. Things were so different now. All the people she’d once called friends had moved on with their lives. There was no place left for her. She’d certainly made sure of that. Part of her wondered if her family missed her. She’d cut ties with them as soon as she’d gotten enough money to move out. They probably didn’t even care.

“Yeah.” Cordelia offered a soft smile. “Some of the others have been having trouble with that too. It’s a lot.” They lapsed into silence for a few more minutes before Susie finally spoke again.

“I’d be a terrible mother.” She muttered. “I’m a selfish bitch. I’d mess up that kid.”

“I have faith in you,” Cordelia said. “But if you don’t want to keep the baby, you can always give them up for adoption.”

“They’d resent me for it.”

“Susie, if you’re really not ready to be a mother, you don’t have to be.” Cordelia put a hand on her shoulder. “No one is going to force you.” Susie sniffled, a weak smile crossing her face.

“When did you become so wise?” She wiped away some stray tears.

“I’ve been through a lot of shit.” Cordelia laughed ruefully. “I had to pick up something along the way.” Susie started to cry again, wrapping her arms around the younger woman. Cordelia just held her as she sobbed.

“You know you’re eventually going to need to talk things out with Sammy, right?” She said once Susie was done crying.

“…I know.”

“I believe in you, Susie. You can get better.”

“…Thanks.”

At least someone believed in her.


	3. Chapter 3

...

“Why is Aunt Susie upset?” Joey rubbed the back of his head when Susie had gone upstairs.

“Well...Ruby, Susie and Sammy have never quite got along…and Susie is worried that she’s going to have to talk to Sammy about something they did together back when they did like each other.” He said slowly, looking to Robert for some help.

“Uh, yeah, something like that;” Robert said quickly. “You know that mean lady who name called Sammy you were telling me about? Susie used to be really good friends with her.” Joey raised an eyebrow and Robert mouthed that he’d explain later as Ruby nodded. “So finding out that her friend lied to her is upsetting, and she’s trying to figure out what and who she should believe. Does that make sense?” Ruby nodded slowly.

“I think so…” Robert smiled and patted the girl’s back.

“Susie will figure out the right things; she’s a smart cookie.” He paused. “Speaking of cookies, Bendy if I turn around and see you, Boris, or Wally trying to steal my cookies, I will hunt you down and no one will stop me.” Ruby started giggling as Bendy’s eyes went wide, his hands hovering over the cookie pan. The darling demon scurried over to hide behind Joey’s leg as Robert smirked. “I thought so, now, is there any homework we need to do?” Rachel shook her head.

“Finished all of mine at school.”

“Mr. Campbell waits till the weekend to assign stuff.” Isaac said.

“And you don’t get homework yet, Ruby,” Robert said before what Isaac said registered. “Wait-What?!”

“Mr. Campbell?” Joey asked. “That’s…?”

“He’s the Honors English teacher...he’s actually been here since Mrs. Smithens is having her baby.” Rachel nodded.

“He’s watched our class a few times. He’s pretty quiet and to himself.” Robert and Joey exchanged looks; both thinking the same thing.

“What’s with the looks?” Joshua asked as he entered, carrying the folded kitchen dish rags to put up. “And what’s all this talking about Mr. Campbell?”

“Do you know him?” Joey asked quickly and Joshua shrugged absently.

“Yeah, I do work at the school and we did basic training. He’s fairly mellow.”

“Is he related to Susie?!” Joshua nodded simply.

“Yep, one of her older brothers. I helped his fiancee get her daughter’s ears pierced for her birthday a few months back.” He said casually as Rachel stood.

“Wait, he’s related to Susie?” Rachel demanded. “How come he didn’t tell anyone!?” Joshua gave a look to Rachel.

“Nobody has to relate their entire life history or their families to anyone, Rachel. He didn’t have any contact with Susie even before she went missing, so it’s not like he’d tell you anything of importance. And let me put this out right now; do _not_ ask him about this. Whether Susie talks to him or not is up to them and you do _not_ need to help put salt in wounds.” He went to the linen closet and put the things up as Rachel frowned as she slumped back into the chair.

“But it would help…” She muttered under her breath thinking no one would hear.

“But what if the mean lady also said mean things about Aunt Susie’s brother too?” Ruby asked loudly, making Rachel turn a shade of red. “I mean, Daddy said that the mean lady said really mean things about people that didn’t like what she said like him or Uncle Joshy....”

“Yeah, Rubes got a point!” Bendy piped up, Isaac nodding in agreement. “And Mr. Robert said that Susie’s gotta go through some thinking things so she’s already got a lot on her mind plate!” Rachel opened her mouth before sighing, deciding that she wouldn’t deal with this battle yet as Cordelia came down from upstairs. “Ms. Dee, can I have the cookies Robbie won’t let me have~” Robert glared at Bendy as Cordelia chuckled lightly.

“I didn’t make the cookies, Bendy, so I have no right to give away the cookies, especially if you tried sneaking with them first.”

.

* * *

 

.

“Hiya Mr. Dave!!” Dave chuckled as he waved to girl as he and Allison were walking back to Henry’s house from the meeting with Allison’s family. “Who’s your girlfriend?”

“Well, this is Allison Pendle,” Dave said and the girl’s eyes widened. “She was the voice of Alice Angel.”

“Only for a short time,” Allison said quickly but it didn’t seem to phase the girl.

“Whooa….” The girl looked up at her in awe. “C-C-Can I...can…” Allison went ahead and nodded as the girl quickly ran over to a man, yelling in excitement before rushing back with his notebook and a pen. Dave couldn’t help but smile as Allison signed the paper and hugged the girl as the man came over.

“She really loves the character of Alice Angel…” He offered as the girl squealed in delight at the autograph. “She’s seen nearly all her shorts…”

“Well, I wasn’t the first person to voice her,” Allison said. “In fact, the first voice actress is a friend of mine,” The girl’s eyes widened even further as Allison looked at Dave. “You don’t think Henry or Susie would mind?” Dave snorted.

“Please, the guy loves an excuse to fire up the grill.” He looked at the man. “If you and Sophia want to come-”

“Yes!!” The girl looked up at the man. “Mr. Henry’s got the coolest Bendy stuff! Including Alice Angel things!” The man laughed.

“I suppose your mother won’t mind an excuse to hang out with Linda again…”

.

* * *

 

.

“I do appreciate you doing my hair Ruby…” Susie said softly as the girl hummed.

“It’s fun!” Ruby said. “And it will make you feel better!” She stuck her tongue out as she tried to braid.

“Like this lass. Let me help ya.” Shawn said as he came over to help. “Over, under, over, under,” Susie couldn’t help but smile; she would’ve never pegged Shawn as being one for good with kids. Then again, she didn’t expect Joey to have a niece or nephew, who were the complete polar opposite of each other and yet creaming their uncle and Bendy in Monopoly while Joshua and Dee supervised with the searchers. Henry chuckled as Bertie was being roped into helping Bendy, Joey making some theatrics about being ‘betrayed’ which was making Ruby laugh while the former employees of Joey rolled their eyes.

“Well, if you didn’t suck at the game, you wouldn’t be ditched.” Wally pointed out which got him a few hundred dollars thrown at him along with a plastic house.

“Hey! That’s going to be the Bendy Hotel!” Bendy whined as the door opened and Dave entered, followed by Allison and three other people.

“I brought more people for dinner, Henry, hope you don’t mind.” Henry chuckled as he made his way to the kitchen.

“Even with Sammy helping cook, it’ll be fine,” There was a loud ‘hey’ from the kitchen and giggling from Ruby as Susie got a comforting smile from Cordelia before Isaac spoke up.

“Mr. Campbell? Why are you here?” Susie looked up and paled; perhaps older and slightly hairier with peppery facial hair, but that was the second-youngest Campbell and the ‘closest’ one of her brothers she was close to-relatively speaking-in front of her, standing with a girl maybe a year or two younger than Rachel and another woman, maybe about the same age as the man. Rachel looked ready to say something, but was elbowed by her brother and a Searcher as well.

“Oh, Isaac, Rachel, good to see you two here. Mr. Foster, Ms. Bell,” He said before looking over the group of people staring at him, not quite recognizing anyone other than the janitor, fellow teacher, and the two students. “Um...hello? Can I help you?”

“Well, damn. Clearly we know who got the good genes in that family of yours Susie.” Wally said before he got another couple houses and dollars thrown at him, as well as the hairbrush Ruby and Shawn were using.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a long time since Lewis had seen his sister. The last time he’d seen her, she’d just turned 16. She’d packed up everything she held dear to her and boarded a bus out of town. In his mind, Susie was still a 16-year-old girl, a bit too skinny and a bit too tall. But as soon as he heard the redheaded man say Susie’s name, he recognized the woman sitting on the ground. She was older, of course, and had filled out quite a bit more, but it was still his sister.

“Lewis, what’s wrong?” Helen asked, touching his arm.

“That’s…That’s Susie.” He said.

“Your sister?” Helen looked from Lewis to Susie, who was still sitting frozen on the ground.

“So _that’s_ Aunt Susie!” Sophia said, smiling brightly. “She’s even prettier than the pictures you showed us.”

“She’s also the original voice actress for Alice Angel,” Cordelia added. Sophia’s eyes lit up and she ran over, thrusting out the notebook and pen she’d been carrying around.

“Please sign my notebook!” She said, her eyes sparkling. Susie tentatively took the notebook, scribbling down her signature. It had been a long time since she’d done something like this. It reminded her of better days, when tour groups would come to the studio and kids would ask for her autograph when they saw her. A small smile tugged at the edges of her lips.

“She loves Alice Angel,” Lewis explained, a faint smile on his face. “She’s seen nearly all her shorts.”

“She had the same reaction to me,” Allison said, giggling behind her hand.

“Wait.” Sophia’s eyes suddenly got rather wide as she looked between her aunt and her father. “Does this mean that when you get married, I’m going to be related to _Alice Angel_?”

“Yeah, I guess you will.” Lewis’ smile widened.

“This is the best day of my life.” Sophia’s face grew serious as she clutched her notebook to her chest.

“I’m glad you’re happy, sweetheart.” Helen ruffled her daughter’s hair. Susie watched the girl who was to be her niece with a soft smile on her face. Everyone really had grown up without her. She felt a pang of what might have been envy. Her family really had been happier without her there. It was something she’d always suspected, and now it had been confirmed for her. She drew into herself, staring at her lap.

“Hey.” Susie looked up at the hand on her shoulder to find Lewis smiling down at her. “Can we talk?”

“I would suggest you do so upstairs,” Bertram suggested, not looking up from the Monopoly board. “There are…prying ears down here.” Joey, Wally, and Bendy all quickly tried to pretend they weren’t staring at Susie and her brother. Rachel rolled her eyes, gesturing for Sophia to sit with her and her brother. Sophia glanced at her mother, who nodded, before happily sitting down.

“We’ll be back in a little bit.” Lewis kissed Helen on the cheek and headed upstairs. Susie sat there for a moment before following tentatively after him. The two went into the bedroom Susie had been staying in. Susie sat on the bed, hugging her knees. Lewis sat down beside her.

“I missed you,” Lewis said after a few moments of silence. “We all did.”

“Somehow, I doubt it.” Susie snorted, rolling her eyes. She’d tried to put her last interaction with her family from her mind, but on her darkest days it always came creeping back. Ryan had been furious, yelling at her that she thought she was better than the rest of them. Her mother had begged her not to go out on her own, to stay and let them help her. Many of her other brothers had joined their mother in begging. And then there had been her father. He had said nothing…Which arguably hurt the most. He always had an opinion, but then…Then he’d been silent. He hadn’t even told her goodbye.

“Ryan felt terrible about yelling at you if that’s what you’re thinking of,” Lewis said. “And Dad might not say it, but he wishes he’d said goodbye to you.”

“You’re just saying that,” Susie mumbled. “They were glad to see me gone. Everyone was. I was just a nuisance to everyone.”

“You were never a nuisance. Sure, you got on our nerves sometimes, but that’s what family does.” Lewis took his sister’s hand and squeezed it, his brow furrowed. “We love you, Susie. We never stopped loving you.”

“I don’t deserve your love.” Susie drew her hand away, hunching her shoulders. “I turned my back on all of you.”

“No one blames you for that,” Lewis said. “Everyone thinks they could have done more to keep you with us.” Susie couldn’t help but snort quietly.

“I don’t deserve any of you.” She sighed.

“Come on, we’re all disasters.” Lewis nudged her with his shoulder.

“I guess.” Susie let herself smile a little. “So…How is everyone?”

“Ryan took over Dad’s business and Simon works under him.” Lewis counted off the brothers on his fingers. “Tim went off to Vietnam when the war came, although we all joined the army at some point. He’s actually pretty good friends with Chris. He’s a bank teller now. Ron got married and is a statistics analyst now. Percy became a lawyer. We all busted our asses so he could get into law school.” Somehow, Susie wasn’t surprised Percy had become a lawyer. He always had liked to argue.

“What about Matt?” Susie asked. “He was always interested in baseball, right? Did he try to go for the big leagues?”

“He’s…alright.” Lewis hesitated for a moment. “He wanted to try out for the big leagues, but…That didn’t end up working out.”

“Did something happen?” Susie felt her stomach begin to drop. Lewis avoided looking at her, starting to wring his hands.

“He…lost a hand during his time in Vietnam.” He said after a moment or two of silence.

“Oh.”

“He’s doing fine,” Lewis added quickly. “But he’s never going to play baseball.”

“Oh god.” Susie’s breathing started to pick up.

“Susie, he’s fine.” Lewis moved over, putting his hands on his sister’s shoulders. “He’s fine.” Susie was starting to cry, covering her face with her hands. She didn’t know why she was so upset by this. She’d thought she didn’t care about her family anymore.

“LEWIS!” She was startled by someone yelling from downstairs. That voice sounded familiar.

“Oh thank, God.” Lewis sighed. He stood up, taking Susie by her arm. “C’mon, that’s him now. Talk to him. You’ll see he’s alright.”

“What-? No!” Susie tried to pull away. “I look awful! He can’t see me like this!” Her makeup was smudged and her mascara was running. She absolutely couldn’t be seen by _anyone_ like this!

“Susie, I’ve seen you look worse.” Lewis pulled her out of the bedroom and downstairs. Susie fought him the whole way, but he’d always been much stronger than her. She felt like a child again and she hated it. Matt was crouched on the ground, listening intently as Ruby introduced him to Bendy. Joey looked very proud of himself, rubbing his knuckles on his vest. Rachel rolled her eyes. Matt looked up at Lewis and Susie coming down the stairs, his face lighting up.

“Lewis! There you are!” He stood up. “Did Ruby already introduce you to Bendy?”

“Sort of.” Lewis smiled quickly.

“Who’s with you?” Matt peered past Lewis. Susie was trying desperately to hide her face and retreat back up the stairs.

“That’s Auntie Susie!” Ruby said brightly.

“Susie?” Matt stared blankly at Ruby for a moment. Then he glanced at Lewis, the barest hint of curiosity registering on his face.

“ _Our_ Susie,” Lewis said. Matt’s eyes widened.

“Susan?” Matt’s voice was quiet as he took a step towards his sister. Susie hunched her shoulders, trying to scoot away. In an instant, Matt closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her.

“I can’t believe you’re here.” He whispered. “I missed you.” Susie stiffened for a moment before starting to sob and hugging him back. It was at this moment that Sammy walked out of the kitchen and almost dropped the plates of food he’d been holding.


	5. Chapter 5

....

A million thoughts raced through Sammy’s mind as he saw Susie and another man hugging, the woman in question sobbing into the man’s chest.

Former Flame? It was possible, he knew Susie had prior boyfriends before but she hardly seemed indifferent to the memory of them when she mentioned them.

A family member? Again, it was possible, but Susie hardly mentioned it-if not outright ignored any and all mention of it. Granted, he had seen Lewis once or twice now that he was out of the studio, and Joshua did mentioned Susie having a family, but that hardly stuck with him, especially now considering that he and Susie wouldn’t probably never get back together and she never apparently trusted him enough in the first place to let him know about this. He bit back his feelings as best he could before speaking.

“Dinner is ready.” He said shortly, hoping to head back to the kitchen and come back when there was less people and he could pretend to avoid this awkward conversation, but of course, Wally had to be Wally.

“Lawrence, how come you and Campbell were hiding that she’s got brothers?!” Wally was probably going to say something else but judging from the glare he was getting from his toymaker boyfriend he altered some of the words. Sammy shot the former janitor a death glare as nearly all eyes were on him now. At least now he knew who the man was.

“I was unaware she had extended family.” He said curtly and Wally turned to Susie.

“You didn’t even tell your boy-”

“Wallace, if you know what’s good for you, zip it.” Joey said in a far-too-cheery tone and Wally clamped up, paling ever so slightly. “It’s not polite to interfere with people’s personal affairs, no matter how much concern or curiosity we have.” He gave his niece a look at the end of it and the teen made a disgruntled huff.

“Besides,” Joshua said, taking the plates from Sammy. “You’re taken Wally and I’m not going to save you when Shawn comes for you.” He looked at Campbell brothers. “Matt, Lewis, meet Wally, Tom, Wynn’s cousins Norman and Lacie, Joey, Bertram, Bendy, Boris, Shawn, and Sammy.” He took a breath. “Everybody, Matt and Lewis Campbell.”

“How do you know-”

“We worked together.” Joshua said simply. “Now, these are getting cold, so let’s eat and save the awkward talks for later.” By the tone of voice, Joshua wasn’t offering it up as a suggestion, but firmly stating that’s what they were all going to do.

.

* * *

 

.

Dinner was mildly awkward, to say the least. Thankfully, most of the conversations went between Joshua, Matt, and Lewis telling some of their stories from when they worked together in the Mobile Hospital and at the school and Joey roping Henry into explaining how the ideas for the shorts came to be, much to the excitement of Isaac and Sophia and mild embarrassment at Wally, especially when Shawn butted in with the story of how Wally lost his keys to a woman’s poodle and spent half the day chasing it around, which led to the ‘Dizzy Dainty Dog-sitters’ short.

“Really Shawn? You had to tell them that?” He grumbled and Shawn scoffed.

“You were the one flirting with my fiance. Not that I disagree with him or anything like that.” Helen pointed out, chuckling at Wally’s red face and Lewis’s nervous chuckling. Susie was only half paying attention, her thoughts wandering everywhere and her eyes landing on the neatly folded sleeve of where Matt’s left lower arm would’ve been. She quickly looked down at her food, chiding herself before she got a nudge from Allison, the woman looking at her in concern.

“Susie and I need to step outside for a moment,” Allison said softly, gently pulling Susie away from the table and out to the front porch. Once the door was closed Allison turned to Susie and crossed her arms. “Which is it?”

“W-What?” Susie asked, a bit of guard.

“Your brothers are all grown up, Wally flirting with one of them, the mild threat of either Joey or Shawn throwing Wally into a literal doghouse, you and Sammy and that whole thing regarding your relationship, or the other thing?” Susie frowned and sighed softly, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

“It’s...a lot, Allison, you know that...I mean…so many things have changed…And...And I missed it all…”

“Not to be rude, but I think _all_ of us have missed a lot.” Allison stated. “But we can’t mope about it.”

“Allison, do you really think I have a chance?” Allison was admittedly surprised as Susie continued. “I left my family when I was 16, and I thought they were better off without me and I didn’t need them a-and yet when I hear about one of them getting hurt…” She forced back the rising tears. “A-And Lewis says they all missed me...And I said and did all those awful things to Sammy and his family…”

“And you’ve got a chance to make it up,” Allison said, wrapping her arm around Susie’s shoulder. “If they didn’t think you deserved one, you think they would’ve let Henry slide with rescuing you? Or letting you stay? Come on, Susie, it’s an uphill battle, but you’re not alone in this, none of us are….we can’t let our past hold us back like this…” Susie wasn’t quite sure she believed Allison, but she nodded.

“I guess so…” Allison punched her shoulder.

“Besides, you’ve got the most energetic little niece I’ve ever seen! And it’ll be easy to get her birthday and Christmas presents,” Susie snorted.

“She may already have all the merchandise.”

“What’s the harm in signed doubles?”

.

* * *

 

.

When Susie and Allison had left, the chatter continued, though Sammy tuned it out. He was reeling from this sudden bombshell, so he was grateful that none of the attention had fallen upon on him.

“So, um, Sammy was it? Wally mentioned you were Susie’s boyfriend?”

Damnit all.

“Former boyfriend.” Sammy said simply and the two Campbell brothers looked at him curiously as the ones unaware of what had gone down between the two looked at Sammy in confusion and Sammy mentally cursed at his choice of words; he didn’t know how they’d react to that choice of words.

“It was more my fault.” Sammy looked up in surprise as Joey spoke up. “I put him in a rather unfortunate position and he received the brunt of Ms. Campbell’s wrath.” Sammy was stunned; it was very unlike Joey to take responsibility, but here he was, risking his ass to cover for Sammy. “You see, there was a brief period where Alice Angel didn’t seem to rising in popularity as quickly as I thought she would, and I took a risk and replaced her voice actress, which was Ms. Pendle. Ms. Campbell, in all honesty could’ve taken it better.” He chuckled nervously as Joshua rolled his eyes. Matt nodded slowly.

“She was always a drama queen.” Bendy covered his snort, trying to hide it as Lewis gave his brother a look. “Hey, don’t look at me like that; don’t you remember when Percy got the middle school choir solo?” Lewis sighed, chuckling slightly. “He wouldn’t eat anything at home for a month...especially if he saw her in the kitchen…”

“That’s really mean!” Ruby said, pouting and Matt’s face flushed.

“Well, I’m over exaggerating a bit, Rubes, Susie was good, she just got awfully competitive.” Sammy couldn’t help but smile slightly as Ruby furrowed her brows, trying to glare at Matt, and Matt’s way of handling the child; it was rather cute. “We’re all a little competitive, and Josh can vouch for that,”

“If by competitive, you mean completely awful at anything that doesn’t require two left feet.” Both Campbell men glared at Joshua who shrugged. “Hey, I wasn’t the one who face-planted twice at Ron’s wedding.”

“I can teach you how to dance if you want!” Bendy offered, beaming. “I’m the bestest dancer! And so’s Boris!” Helen chuckled as Sophia beamed.

“That would be awesome!”

“Uncle Roy could help too…” Ruby added firmly before looking at Sammy. “Could you play the piano for ‘em? Bendy doesn’t dance very good without the music.”

“Hey! Ruby!”

“She’s got a point though Ben.”

“Bo!!” The conversation quickly shifted as Bendy whined in embarrassment as Boris listed off the times Bendy wasn’t as darling of a dancer without music and Sammy sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, thinking he managed to dodge a bullet as Susie and Allison returned to the table.

“Well, maybe we can arrange something over the weekend or something,” Henry offered gently and Lewis chuckled.

“That would actually be a great idea; everyone’s coming down early for our wedding, and it would be great,” He said something else but Susie couldn’t hear it as it seemed her world was crashing for the fourth time in as many hours as she stood quickly up and ran upstairs and slammed the door to her room.

“Susie!” Both Campbell men stood up, but Cordelia stopped them.

“Let me talk to her,” She said gently and reluctantly the two sat back down before making her way to the room.


	6. Chapter 6

For a moment, Susie had been happy to see some of her family. She’d missed them. She didn’t want to admit it out loud, but she had missed them more than anything. And it seemed as though they’d missed her as well. She’d taken comfort in Allison’s words, allowing herself to be happy and hopeful for the first time in a long time. Maybe things would be alright. Maybe she could start again. But then she heard that her whole family would be coming down for Lewis’ wedding. That was when it all came crashing down. If they were coming here, then that meant they’d find out about what she’d done, the monster she’d become. So she fled back to the room she’d hid in before, hugging her knees and starting to sob quietly. A few moments later, Cordelia crept in to sit beside her.

“What’s wrong?” Cordelia asked, putting a hand on Susie’s back. Susie couldn’t help but think back to her time at the studio when she’d comforted Cordelia when the younger woman had had panic attacks. Susie couldn’t get out any words at first. She was crying too hard.

“It’s okay.” Cordelia wrapped her arms around Susie and held her close. “I’m here.” Susie buried her face in Cordelia’s chest. Things really had changed. Cordelia wasn’t the scared little girl she’d once been. For the moment, Susie took comfort in Cordelia’s presence. At least Cordelia still believed in her. The two women sat together until Susie managed to calm herself enough to form coherent words once more.

“Now, what’s wrong?” Cordelia asked, pulling away and putting her hands on Susie’s shoulders.

“If they come here…They’ll find out what I did.” Susie said, still sniffling a little bit.

“What are you talking about?”

“They’ll find out what I did!” Susie repeated, almost on the verge of tears again. “They’ll find out what I did at the studio!”

“Oh.” Cordelia’s expression softened.

“They’ll find out and then they’ll hate me.” Susie drew away, hugging her knees. “Just like everyone else hates me.”

“Everyone doesn’t hate you.”

“Yes, they do.” Susie hugged her knees even tighter. “Have they told you what I did? All the people I hurt down there to make myself ‘perfect’?”

“I…” Cordelia hesitated, pursing her lips. “No. I don’t know what you did.”

Susie smiled mournfully, looking up. “Would you like to?”

“Susie-”

“Everyone else hates me, you might as well hate me too.” Susie started to laugh, burying her head in her hands. “No one will ever love me again. I’m a monster! I’ll never escape what I’ve done!”

“Susie!”

Susie abruptly stopped. She’d never heard Cordelia’s voice sound so sharp before. Cordelia took a deep breath to compose herself.

“Susie.” She repeated, more softly. “Please, listen to me.” She put her hands on Susie’s shoulders again. “Yes, you did bad things in the studio. But so did everyone else. Besides, Joey started all of this. You were just a victim in all of it.”

Susie was silent, watching Cordelia with a furrowed brow.

“I dissected other people,” Susie said after a moment. “I ripped out their hearts and ate them so that I’d be perfect. I tortured and mutilated and I enjoyed it.”

“Susie.” Cordelia sighed, drawing away.

“I’m the reason Wally has night terrors.” Susie continued. “I turned him into a monster and I set him loose on Henry. I-”

“Stop,” Cordelia said. Susie did, hanging her head.

“You did a lot of bad things, yes, and I’m not saying that it’ll immediately be forgiven,” Cordelia said. “But you have to try and move on. We all have to try and move on. Besides, Joey sacrificed everyone to Satan and he gets a second chance. So you do too.”

“You…Really think so?” Susie asked quietly.

“Yes, really.” Cordelia gave her a smile. “Now, please, come back downstairs. I’m sure everyone’s rather worried about you.”

“Yes, that’s probably true.” Susie smiled back sheepishly. Cordelia got up, holding out a hand to Susie, who shyly took it. They made their way back downstairs, where everyone was waiting.

“Are you alright?” Matt asked.

“I’m fine.” Susie nodded. “I just…Was surprised. That everyone is coming down for Lew’s wedding.”

“Everyone from the studio has been through a lot,” Cordelia added, settling at the table. The former studio members all looked at Joey, who hunched his shoulders a little bit. This didn’t go unnoticed by the Campbell brothers, who both exchanged a glance.

“Anyway,” Joshua cleared his throat. “It’ll be nice to see everyone again. Ruby’s probably looking forward to seeing Matthias and Mary again.”

“Are they nice?” Bendy asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Mm-hm.” Ruby nodded. “They’re a lot of fun! And so’s Misses Betty. Mister James acts like he’s really scary, but he’s really nice. Like Nancy’s papa!”

“Yeah, that sounds like Dad.” Lewis laughed. “He and Mr. Lawrence are pretty similar.” Soon enough, they slipped into a comfortable conversation. Susie let herself be happy again. Maybe…Maybe things were going to be alright. She wasn’t alone.


	7. Chapter 7

..

“Got a light?” Joshua gave Lewis a look as the two of them sat outside the school, the voices of the kids playing outside in recess mere background noise as they sat in a ‘Teachers Only’ area.

“I thought you were done,” Lewis gave him a look back.

“Considering last night? I think we both deserve one.” Joshua laughed and fished through his pockets before pulling out his lighter and handing it to Lewis. “You?”

“Dr. Robin’s still giving me the stink eye over the arm, so I’m going to have to pass on that part,” Joshua said as the man lit a cigarette before sighing, leaning against the wall. “It went a lot better than I thought it would though…I could’ve sworn there’d be a stabbing…”

“It seemed pretty close with that Franks guy…He always sticking his foot in his mouth like that?” Joshua shrugged. “And the fact they were all shocked about Susie having a family…Don’t they know…?”

“Sammy only knows about the incident at the parlour and the attempt to blackmail me…” Joshua said. “And I’m pretty sure Allison is aware of what Susie did; Henry said they shared bodies or something like that, I mean I’m still trying to grasp the ‘sentient ink’ thing and the black magic shit…”

“Yeah...that is something different…” Lewis said before taking a few puffs, handing the lighter back to its owner. “Man, it’s going to be so awkward this weekend…”

“Chris did mention that Susie’s around to your folks, sent a photo, so it’s not like it’ll be that awkward…” Joshua’s face fell. “Wait, oh fuck, he sent that before Sammy and her broke up…” Joshua wiped his face as Lewis gave his friend a look.

“Not that awkward, huh?”

“Shut up and hand me one…”

.

* * *

 

.

“Slow down Ruby!” Sammy laughed as the toddler raced Bendy to a grassy part of the field, having dragged him and Matt to the park to ‘throw balls’. Susie and Allison were there, though it was more like Allison had dragged Susie out of the house.

“We’re gonna throw baseballs! And not have-ta hide like Uncle Matt did when he and Uncle Roy threw baseballs!” Matt laughed as he caught up to the two.

“Ruby, let’s not have that for Susie to hang over me like that,” He joked before he looked around. “Alright, we seemed to be in a good spot, now, you remember what I told you?”

“If you have to, Duck!” Bendy exclaimed and Ruby nodded and Matt laughed.

“Exactly, now,” He turned to Susie. “You got the baseballs, right?” Susie smiled awkwardly and pulled out the ball from her purse. “Only one?”

“I don’t want to lose track of them.” She said, though she couldn’t help but smile at the pout her brother gave her; still the light hearted knuckle head as the last day she’d seen him. She slowly handed the ball to him. He went to the two and showed them how to hold the ball before roping Sammy into showing how to catch and throw the ball. Allison hid her smile behind her hand and Susie smiled softly as Ruby tried throwing the ball with Bendy trying to catch it, with Matt throwing tips out and techniques as Sammy helped and tried to avoid getting smacked with the ball. Allison laughed as the ball rolled over to her and Susie as Sammy rubbed his nose, glaring at the ‘innocent’ demon, who was whistling.

“Over here Aunt Allison!! Aunt Susie!!” Ruby yelled, waving her hands. “I’m gonna catch it!” Susie laughed and gently tossed it back towards them, Ruby missing the ball and she had to scurry after it before she gasped as she nearly ran into an older woman. “Oh! Mrs. Betty! I’m throwing a ball and catching it!” Susie paled as she heard her mother’s laugh.

“Oh hello there Ruby, I see Matt’s roping you into playing baseball….” Allison took Susie’s shoulder and smiled at her as Ruby came back, leading Betty towards them. “Matt, you know she’s a little young to play baseball,” The man in question shrugged playfully.

“There’s always teeball Ma…” She shook her head before seeing everyone. “Oh, uh, Ma…” Betty walked over to Susie.

“S-Susan?” She asked slowly and Susie looked up at her mother sheepishly.

“H-Hi ma…” She managed out quietly before she enveloped in a tight hug.

“Oh baby...my baby…I missed you so much…My angel...my baby, I missed you so much...” Susie felt tears begin to well up as she returned her mother’s hug.

“Me too mama...me too…”

.

* * *

 

.

“And then you repeat the earlier steps.” Linda explained simply before seeing her husband walk by with Murray. “Oh hello dear, Boris and Joey are helping me with the scarves, while Bendy and Ruby tire out the others,”

“I’m holding the yarn, cause I got twisted up.” Boris admitted sheepishly as Joey chuckled.

“I’m about ten seconds from joining him….” Joey said, setting the needles down. “How are you and Murray?”

“We’re fine,” Henry said. “We’re going to try and find the channel where the city council is holding their hearing; Alexander said they’d be discussing what the plans for the studio will be…” Joey nodded slowly, obviously trying to hide his reaction. “He’s going to offer that it goes in my name and I become the owner of the place, lest Esther gets her hands on some C4.”

“See 4 what?” Boris asked and the adults chuckled.

“It’s like TNT Boris, but a bigger boom,” Henry explained simply. “Alexander was implying that Esther would blow the place up...she’s a bit destructive when she wants to.” Joey scoffed.

“You don’t know the half of it. We had to stop giving her piggy banks when she realized there was more than one way to open it.” Henry chuckled, shaking his head as Murray looked understandably concerned before he frowned. “Something wrong?”

“It feels...it feels like there’s something at the studio...but everyone and everything’s out…” Joey made a face, now sensing the feeling as well, as did Henry, while Linda was a tad more blunt in her regards to it.

“You boys are _not_ leaving to investigate without informing the others and having a more reasonable plan unlike before.” She said sternly. “And you’re _not_ going to go alone, Henry Michael Ross.” Henry went a shade of pink but he nodded.

“Yes dear…”

“Same for you two boys as well.” Boris tried to hide his snicker as the other two felt the threat as well.

“Yes ma’am.”

.

* * *

 

.

The remaining ink near the machine oozed and rippled, a faint force struggling and forcing itself to form. After what seemed like hours a pale white glove pierced through the puddle, a determinedness ringing through the ink as the hand began to pull more of itself out of the ink, though not complete, it soon would make its way to become _truly_ perfect.

It was _not_ to be ignored again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy meets Susie's father

Susie had forgotten just how good it felt to be held by her mother. She’d spent so much time telling herself that she didn’t need anyone, that she could do everything by herself. Being held like this…Knowing that someone was there for her…She’d forgotten how good it felt. It was a little awkward being a grown woman sobbing in the middle of a public park, but Susie didn’t care. Betty patted Susie’s head, whispering to her that it was going to be alright. Eventually, Susie managed to stop crying, but she kept holding her mother’s hand.

“Why don’t we head back to the hotel?” Matt suggested. “You’ve never met Mary and Matthias, right? They’d probably be really excited to meet you.”

“Well, I guess.” Susie hesitated a bit, glancing at the others.

“I can go with you if you want,” Cordelia said. “They already know me.” She moved over to hold Susie’s other hand, smiling reassuringly.

“I wanna go!” Bendy started hopping up and down.

“But Daddy says we need to keep you and Boris a secret.” Ruby shook her head solemnly.

“But why?” Bendy whined.

“Knowing Joey, he’s probably waiting to make some big reveal,” Sammy muttered with an eye roll.

“Probably.” Allison laughed nervously. “Anyway, I should probably be getting you back to the house. Chris is probably waiting.”

“Your father will be so happy to see you,” Betty said, squeezing her daughter’s hand.

“You really think so?” Susie allowed herself a hopeful smile.

“I mean, he’s probably not going to come out and say it, but he’s missed you.” Matt put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. Susie nodded, although she was still a little scared. As the group started to walk away, Betty reached out and grabbed Sammy, dragging him along with them.

“Don’t you think you can get out of this.” She said. “James will want to meet you as well.”

“What? Why?” Sammy asked, looking helplessly back at Allison. Allison just smiled sympathetically, ushering Ruby and Bendy back towards Henry’s house.

“You’re Susan’s boyfriend, aren’t you?” Betty said. Everyone else’s eyes widened. Shit. They hadn’t managed to tell anyone outside of Matt and Lewis that Sammy and Susie weren’t dating anymore. Susie was also realizing that she hadn’t told Sammy that she was pregnant with his baby. She’d taken the pregnancy test the other day after the dinner with everyone and it had, to her horror, been positive. She’d wanted to mope in her room that day, but Allison had dragged her out. Only Allison and Cordelia knew what the results had been.

“I…Yes.” Sammy replied after a moment. Susie’s head snapped back to give him a panicked look. To her surprise, he smiled gently at her. ‘Play along’, he mouthed. It was better to just let Susie’s family think they were still dating for the moment. The whole situation was so complex that it would be hard to explain it all. Matt gave him a strange look, yet didn’t say anything about it. Cordelia squeezed Susie’s hand again, although she looked worried.

They made their way back to the hotel most of the Campbell family was staying at, the majority of them rather nervous about how this meeting was going to go. Betty noticed this, of course, but thankfully assumed the anxiety was about how James would react to Sammy.

“He’ll love you, I promise.” Betty patted Sammy’s back comfortingly. “He might give you a hard time, but he did that to Ron’s wife Natalie too.”

“I would be scared for you, but I’ve heard what your dad’s like.” Matt gave Sammy a big shit-eating grin. “I think you’re gonna be fine.”

“You could at least pretend you’re not enjoying this.” Susie rolled her eyes.

“Are you kidding? It’s been 30 years since Dad ripped apart one of your boyfriends! This is gonna be great!”

“Matthew.” Betty gave Matt a look, causing him to hunch his shoulders and mumble an apology.

“I’m very sorry,” Cordelia whispered to Sammy as they got into the elevator. “Expect to be asked when you’re going to give them grandkids.”

“Is that what they did to you?” Sammy asked.

“It might have been brought up.” Cordelia couldn’t help but blush a little bit at the thought. Susie’s hand unconsciously went to her stomach at the talk of children. Only Cordelia noticed this. They rode the elevator up to the third floor before getting off and heading to the room Betty and James were in. They could hear the sound of children coming from inside the room, signaling that Matthias and Mary were inside, likely along with their parents. Betty let go of Susie’s hand, reaching into her purse to get out the room key. Without thinking, Susie reached out and took Sammy’s hand. Sammy stiffened for a moment before swallowing and holding her hand a bit tighter. Betty opened the door, ushering them in. James was sitting on the bed reading to Matthias and Mary, who were sitting on either side of him. When the group came in, all three looked up.

“It’s the lady from the pictures!” Mary immediately said, pointing at Susie. “The one Daddy doesn’t like talking about!”

“This is your Aunt Susan.” Betty put a hand on Susie’s shoulder.

“You can call me Susie.” Susie managed to say. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Her father had always been an intimidating man, and that hadn’t changed even in 30 years. He watched her over the book in his lap.

“It’s been a long time, Susan.” He said.

“I…I know.” Susie nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Would’ve been nice to hear from you, but you’re a grown woman. You’re allowed to make your own decisions.” He said, waving a hand in a dismissive gesture. “Long as you don’t call us from the county jail ‘cause you got picked up for puking on a policeman’s car.”

“Dad, that happened once!” Matt’s face went red. “Are you never going to let me live that down?”

“To be fair, dear, we did get the call at 3 in the morning.” Betty walked over to the bed to pull her grandchildren into a hug. Matt covered his face with his hand, muttering about how it had been one time.

“And you must be Rebecca’s boy, Sammy.” James turned his attention to Sammy.

Sammy instinctively stood up a little bit straighter. “Yes.”

There was silence for a moment or two as James just stared at Sammy before finally nodding.

“You two thinking of having children?”

Sammy’s eyes widened and he began to sputter as Susie’s face went white. Cordelia reflexively grimaced while Matt lowered his hand, a small smirk forming on his face. Matthias and Mary began to giggle, exchanging a glance.

“They’re not even married yet, James. It’s far too soon to be asking them that.” Betty scolded her husband.

“Well then, when’re you getting married?” James kept his gaze on Sammy. “If you haven’t set a date, you could do it this weekend with Lewis.”

“James, really.”

“I don’t think Lew’ll appreciate Susie stealing the spotlight on his wedding day,” Matt said, barely able to keep himself together.

“I really don’t think we’re ready for that.” Sammy shook his head, putting his hands up. “I haven’t even proposed to her.”

“They’ve only just gotten back together.” Cordelia jumped in. “It’s a bit soon for them to be getting married.”

“You shouldn’t wait too long.” James continued as if no one had said anything. “Susan’s a strong-willed girl, and she doesn’t like having to wait.”

“This is Hell. I’m in Hell.” Susie covered her face with her hands. She’d forgotten just how embarrassing it was to have her father talk to her significant others. Sammy, to his credit, wasn’t freaking out. Despite everything that had happened, he was still holding her hand and nodding as her father spoke. Despite herself, Susie smiled a little. Maybe this would be alright.


	9. Chapter 9

....

“Oh boy, you guys just left Sammy to face Susie’s parents all by himself?” Chris chuckled as he held his daughter in his lap, the little one giggling as everyone chilled out back at Henry's house. “You little stinkers.” Ruby giggled as Bendy, on Henry’s lap, looked confused.

“Whadda mean Mr. Chris?” He asked. “Miss Cordelia was there and she went to go with them too!” Henry looked at Bendy curiously as Chris raised an eyebrow.

“Bendy, Cordelia’s a school teacher, school’s not out for another two hours…”

“But Miss Bell was there Daddy!” Ruby argued. “She came up when Aunt Susie was hugging her Mom!” Chris frowned slightly as he looked at Joey and Henry as Allison nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, it was Cordelia...but if school isn’t out yet…”

“Joey, can you grab me the phone please?” Chris said. “Lemme make a call or two…”

.

* * *

 

.

“Well, that was...interesting…” Sammy admitted as he, Susie, and Cordelia exited the hotel, after spending a while with the Campbell family. “Those two are very rambunctious…” Susie chuckled nervously.

“Y-Yeah, they might even give Bendy a run for his money…” She said before a motorcycle rode by them, stopping right in front of them, startling them as Joshua nearly ripped off his helmet. “Joshua!?”

“Step back from her,” He snapped back, gesturing to Cordelia as he got off the bike, moving to separate Cordelia from the other two.

“Joshua, have you lost it?” Sammy demanded, starting to get irritated by the man’s actions. “That is-”

“That _isn’t_ Dee.” Joshua nearly spat out, startling Susie and Sammy as the man turned to Cordelia, who was still smiling. “Chris called the school and spoke to Dee…” Susie’s eyes widened in horror as she unintentionally leaned in closer to Sammy, who wrapped an arm around her. “Who the hell do you think are?!” ‘Cordelia’ just chuckled coyly.

“My my,” She chuckled, ink beginning pool and ooze around the woman. “You certainly are a charmer; I can see why _she_ likes you…” The creature was quickly becoming less and less humanlike as she crept towards them. “Too bad for her that you belong to the angel now~”

“Run!”

“ _ **Jay**_!”

.

* * *

 

.

“So it wasn’t Miss Bell?” Ruby asked as Chris hung up the phone. “But it was really like her…”

“It was probably one of the Searchers, little lady,” Joey said, bouncing her on his knee. “Or one of the Lost Ones. After all, we’re very good at pretending.” He chuckled. “I’m sure they wanted to play with you guys too, and Ms. Bell was the best person to pretend to be, because…”

“Because she’s fun!” Ruby exclaimed and Joey laughed.

“Right you are my little lady!” She giggled as Joey tickled her and Henry smiled softly.

“I certainly hope so.” Chris said. “But you’re going to be in the doghouse when Josh gets back from picking them up.” Joey made a face as Bendy giggled.

“Murray~ Chrissy is being mean~” Ruby covered her mouth as Bendy snorted as Chris glared at the older man.

“I’m staying out of this,” Murray said, holding his hands up, chuckling. “You two can handle it-” The front door slammed open and Sammy stormed in, stained with some ink. “At a later-” Sammy pulled Joey up by the collar and lifting the man up, slamming him against the wall.

“Sammy?!” Henry exclaimed as Bendy hopped off his lap to check on Ruby.

“ _What did you do_?!” Sammy snarled. “What haven’t you fucking told us about that damned machine?!”

“S-Sammy, I d-Don’t know what you-Ugh!” Joey was slammed against the wall again. Henry grabbed Sammy’s shoulder.

“Samuel.” He said sternly. “What happened?” Sammy trembled, struggling to not break down as his grip slipped on Joey and the man collapsed to the ground quiet sobs racking his body as Susie slowly entered the kitchen, holding herself tightly.

“Susie…?” Allison asked slowly as she came over to Susie.

“A-Allison…s-she took him….”

“What? Susie…please, what’s going on?”

“A-Alice….Alice Angel took him…”

.

* * *

 

.

“Keep trying, darling,” The ink creature that had pretended to be Cordelia cooed as Joshua tried to bust out of the broom closet sized room he was locked in. The creature now appeared to be closer in appearance to Alice Angel, but she wasn’t complete looking yet. “You’re not getting out until I’m perfect~” She sang. “I’ve just got to get this big old hunk of junk running again, get Miss Susie away from that little weasel who was holding onto, and tada; the gal will be back~” Joshua was quiet before sighing.

“You’re not an employee of the studio...are you?” The creature scoffed playfully.

“Pfft, you’re a few bricks shy, aren’t you darling? I’m the one and only Alice Angel~” She paused softly. “Hmm...Miss Susie’s seeming really upset…”

“You did fucking kidnap me in front of her.”

“Well you _were_ being rude. Regardless of me pretending to be Miss Cordelia or not,” Alice mused playfully “She was such a good girl too, hopefully that weasel didn’t mess her up too bad…but we’ll handle that weasel after I’m perfect and I get Miss Susie here.”

“So you’re just using me as bait? That’s nice.” Alice rolled her eyes at the sarcasm.

“Oh don’t worry darling, I’ve got _special_ plans for you….”


	10. Chapter 10

“What do you mean, Alice took him?” Allison asked gently, taking Susie’s hands in hers. But Susie said nothing else, just staring at her hands in what appeared to be horror. Allison pursed her lips, guiding Susie back into the living room and onto the couch. Henry was at Sammy’s side, trying to comfort the sobbing musician as Murray made sure that Joey was alright. Chris quietly suggested Ruby and Bendy go play upstairs, ushering them to the upper levels and away from the chaos.

“Deep breaths,” Henry said, rubbing circles on Sammy’s back. “It’s going to be okay.”

“No, it’s not!” Sammy snapped, burying his face in his hands.

“Exactly what happened?” Joey asked, although he was shrinking back a little. “You said, ‘Alice took him’. What does that mean?”

“What do you think it means?!”

“Sammy, please calm down.” Henry kept his voice calm, a hand still on Sammy’s back. Sammy’s shoulders slumped.

“I…Sorry.”

“Now, could you tell us what happened?”

Sammy took a deep shaking breath, trying to calm himself. “We were…We were walking back from visiting Susie’s folks and halfway back Joshua showed up and…and…Cordelia _changed_.”

“Well, we had surmised that the woman with you probably wasn’t her,” Joey said.

“Well, we didn’t know that!” Sammy gave Joey a poisonous look. “She just…Her whole body got all inky and then she was-”

“Alice.” Susie whispered. “ _My_ Alice.”

“She looked a lot like Susie did when she was Alice.” Sammy clarified. “Just more…unfinished would be the best word, I guess.” This Alice had been a step above a Lost One, but only a step. Her features hadn’t been clearly defined. There had been no detail to her. Like a rough draft.

“But how?” Allison asked. “We’re not…We’re not _her_ anymore.”

“Well, I suppose the ink could have picked up on Susie’s residual feelings.” Joey frowned, deep in thought. “It does tend to retain people’s memories and emotions. Not to mention the lengths to which she went in order to maintain her form. It wouldn’t be surprising if Susie’s strong feelings imprinted on the ink.” Susie let out a small whimper, drawing further into herself. She’d been trying to put what she’d done at the studio behind her. She wasn’t that monster anymore, she told herself. She was trying to be a better person.

“I guess we really should have done something about that ink.” Murray grimaced.  

“Yeah, that would have been nice,” Sammy said.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this concerned for Joshua before,” Joey said, glancing over at Sammy. “I thought you hated him.”

“Hated him?” Sammy looked appalled. “Look, I know I give the guy shit, but I don’t hate him. He’s a good kid.”

“How do we get him back?” Allison asked. If this Alice was anything like the Alice she’d been a part of, she didn’t want to think about what might happen to Joshua.

“We need to go to the studio,” Henry said. “But we need to have some kind of plan for it.”

“If this Alice is like Susie, it might be best if Sammy didn’t join whoever goes,” Joey suggested. “I doubt she’d react well to him, given the comments made by Malice.”

“Malice?” Susie’s head snapped up and she gave Joey a withering look.

“It’s what I started calling the fusion you and Allison became.” Joey drew back a bit, smiling nervously. Murray stifled a snort. Allison sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

“That’s very helpful, Joey.” Sammy rolled his eyes as well.

“He’s probably right about not bringing you, though.” Henry stood up. “If this Alice is anything like the one I faced, she won’t want to see you.” Sammy gritted his teeth but didn’t protest.

“So who should go?” Murray asked.

“…I will.” Everyone turned to look at Susie. She was still seated on the couch, her makeup completely ruined, tear tracks all down her cheeks. But there was a grim determination in her expression.

“This isn’t your responsibility, Susie.” Allison reached out and touched her hand.

“Yes, it is.” Susie insisted, refusing to look at anyone. “I created that monster. I created it and now I have to face the consequences of my actions.” She’d done so many terrible things to so many people. She couldn’t fix everything, but she could fix this. She **had** to fix this. She had to do **something**.

“Well, you shouldn’t go alone,” Allison said, squeezing her hand. “I can go with you if you like.”

“…I would like that.” Susie admitted. If anyone could handle an evil Alice Angel, it would certainly be Allison. Susie was honestly a little jealous of Allison. In her eyes, the younger woman was far stronger and more confident than Susie ever thought she herself could be.

“If there are two of you, I guess you’ll be fine,” Sammy said, although it didn’t really sound like he was comfortable with the idea.

“They’ll be fine.” Joey tried to assure him. Sammy glared at him.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Henry tried to reassure Sammy, despite the fact that he didn’t seem entirely convinced of their safety either. “But just in case, we can wait outside.”

“Wait, are we going right now?” Murray glanced at the stairs. “What should we tell them?”

“You and Sammy stay here,” Henry replied. “Make sure everything stays alright here. Joey and I will go with them for backup.”

“Why me?” Joey asked.

“You still have _some_ connection to the ink, right?”

“…Maaaybe?”

“Good enough.” Henry held out a hand to Joey, pulling him to his feet.

“Let me get cleaned up before we leave.” Susie sniffled, standing up. Without waiting for anyone to reply, she walked to the bathroom on the first floor. As soon as she was alone, she collapsed against the back of the door, starting to sob quietly. This was her fault, all of it. Why couldn’t she do anything right? Why did she have to ruin everything she touched?

“Susie?” She started when she heard Joey’s voice on the other side of the door.

“G-Give me a minute.” She stumbled to her feet, turning on the tap. “I’m almost done.”

“I just wanted to say something, before we leave,” Joey said. “Just…Just to get something off my chest.” Susie paused in front of the sink.

“I…I know you blame yourself for all this.” He continued. “And while you’re not a perfect person, not all of this is your fault. I…I pushed you to this. I preyed on your insecurities and used them for my own gain. I turned you into a monster. And for that, I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tell all of you how sorry I am.” Then she heard him walk away. She stood there for a moment or two before finally going and washing off her face. Makeup wasn’t necessary for this. Once she was cleaned off, she went back outside to where everyone else was waiting.

“Are you ready?” Allison asked.

“No. But if I don’t go now, I never will.” Susie said.

“Then let’s go.” Henry opened the door, and the group left.

 

Alice hummed to herself as she tinkered with the ink machine. She didn’t really know how it worked, but she’d heard Joey and that Murray talking about it before. Or, Susie had. But Alice had all of Susie’s memories, as well as the memories of her time in the show. She was sure she could get it up and running with a little effort. And then she’d be perfect! Not to mention, she did need the ink machine running in order for her plan involving Joshua to work. He was such a nice boy. She was sure he’d be so happy with what she had planned for him.

“I’m just a lonely angel. Sittin’ here on a shelf.” She hummed. “At times it seemed, if I just dreamed, I’d not be by myself.” She liked that song. It was one of the better ones Sammy had created. She still held some distaste for the former music director, but she had to admit that he could write a good melody. And Jack’s lyrics were excellent. Her singing was interrupted by a crash from downstairs. Alice pouted. Joshua was trying to get away again.

“I’m almost finished!” She turned and yelled. “Can’t you just wait a bit?” The response she got was muffled cursing, which only made her pout more.

“Honestly.” She huffed. “It’s like he doesn’t understand what I’m doing.” She returned to the machine, tinkering around a bit more. The machine gave a loud groan, the gears starting to turn. Alice perked up. It was working! It was really working! For how long was unclear, but it was working.

“Oh Joshua~” She sang, staring back toward where she was holding him. “I have a surprise for you~”


	11. Chapter 11

....

“It’s alright Ruby baby.” Chris whispered softly as he rubbed his daughter’s back, who was understandably upset and clinging to her father. “Sammy’s just upset about what happened when Joshy got there…”

“What do you think happened?” Bendy whimpered and Chris shrugged. After a few moments Bendy spoke up again. “Joshy will be back, right?” Chris seemed to tense slightly before forcing a smile.

“Well, I-I can’t make any promises like that, Ben…” He said softly. “But Joshua’s a strong guy...he’s going to give it his all to make it back.” Bendy nodded slowly and Chris pulled him into a hug as well. After a few minutes Chris chuckled. “Yeah, and if not, maybe Nancy can do that magic hoody-bloo better than Joey, huh?” Ruby looked up at her father and made a face. “Well, she’s seen all those spooky movies that I tell her not to show you,” He made a silly face, earning giggles. “So she knows that when the scary demon asks her to sign a contract, she can tell him where to shove it.”

“To Joey’s sister!” Bendy answered. “She’s a lawyer, right?” Chris, obviously not expecting that answer, had to take a moment to collect himself as he snorted.

“Y-Yeah, you got a point there bud…you certainly do…”

.

* * *

.

“You’re going to break my cup.” Linda said simply and Sammy muttered out an apology as he set his mug of coffee down. She sighed as she poured Murray’s cup, despite the man’s protests. “Henry and them will get this all sorted out.”

“How can you be so sure?” Murray asked softly.

“I survived him working at the studio, him being drafted and sent overseas, and him going back to the studio, multiple times...” Sammy made a lackluster shrug, far beyond emotionally drained as Wally, Thomas, and Bertie entered the living room.

“Why’s everybody glum?” Wally asked. “Boris ate the rest of Robert’s food without us?” Linda sighed and shook her head. “What?”

“The ink had enough of Susie’s energy, and memories to form an Alice Angel, and kidnapped Joshua.” Murray stated bluntly. Bertram muttered out a curse and shook his head as Wally looked at the others.

“Why the heck would she kidnap him? I always thought her flirting with him was to rag on Dee,” Sammy looked at Wally in surprise. “Yeah, she did it a few times; he never acknowledged her, but you know Susie...You didn’t know that? Dude, how much _do_ you know about Susie?”

“Apparently nothing at all…” He sighed softly, rubbing his shoulders as Tom coughed to gather everyone’s attention.

“We need to go to the studio and stop that false angel then.”

“False angel?” Everyone turned to see Cordelia entering the house, carrying her work bag. “What are you all talking about? And is Susie and them alright? I mean Mr. Campbell can be a bit overzealous but he means well…" She chuckled slightly, remembering her own meeting with the man. "Joshua was a bit nervous about the idea of a searcher pretending to be me, but I’m sure it’s not….” She started to trail off as she saw the faces of the former employees. “...That bad?”

.

* * *

 

.

“Here we are…” Allison whispered as the two women opened the door to the studio. Susie nodded simply as they stepped in, Joey and Henry nervously staying outside like they agreed to. Once the door closed, Allison took Susan’s hand. “We got this.” Susie nodded absently and Allison squeezed her hand tightly before leading the way deeper into the studio.

“Oh come now Joshua~!” They both froze as they hear the voice of the Alice Angel. “You need to stop squirming; the ink’s going to slip off and you’ll fall off of there.” There was a muffled sound of someone yelling and the angel’s giggling. “You are such a funny little boy, Joshua; you’re going to ab-so-lute-ly _love_ your surprise!” Allison and Susie exchanges glances before they pressed forward as the angel hummed.

“Joshua! Hold on!” Susie cried out. “We’re coming!” The humming suddenly stopped.

“Well I’ll be...looks like things are certainly looking up for this angel~!” There was some laughing as the women ran into the room of the ink machine and saw the angel spinning around on her heels. She lit up as she saw Susie, though it slightly faltered as she saw Allison. “Oh my~! Ms. Susie~ You came~! I’m certainly sorry for spooking you earlier, but I certainly had to improvise when Joshua showed up and ruined my surprise~!” She chuckled as Allison paled and Susie’s eyes widened.

“Wait...where...where is…” Alice kept her smile up as the Ink Machine continued to make chugging noises in the room. “W-Where is he?”

.

* * *

.

“Hmm? Henry? Joey?” Both men turned to see Lewis walking past the studio.

“What are you doing?!” Joey exclaimed in horror, assuming the worst.

“Walking...?” Lewis said slowly, not understanding why both men looked nervous and alarmed at seeing him. “It’s a nice day, school just let out, and I’m meeting my fiance at the flower shop? Why are you two at the abandoned studio?”

“Look, Lewis,” Henry started to say before realizing how ridiculous he was going to sound. He sighed and shook his head. “Look, something has come up with the studio and-” Joey suddenly paled and panickingly tried to open the door. “Joey?!”

“Something’s happening with the machine!!” He exclaimed as he threw open the door and raced in. Henry quickly followed as did Lewis. The three men raced to the ink machine room.

“What the fuck is _that_?!?” Lewis exclaimed, startling both woman as the angel looked at the men in distaste, especially at seeing Lewis.

“It’s the Ink Machine.” She said, as if he was an idiot. Lewis slowly turned to Joey, obviously not expecting that to occur. “Now I know I’m not _quite_ perfect yet, but there’s no need to be judgmental, _Lewis_.” Alice Angel glared at the man as the Ink Machine  made a inhuman groan. Alice’s face lit up in glee as as she turned to the machine. “Oh Goody~ it’s almost finished~!”

“What’s almost finished?” Joey asked slowly and the Angel rolled her eyes.

“What do you _think_ Mr. Drew?” She placed her hands on her hips.

“Where’s Joshua?!” Henry demanded, despite the pit growing in his stomach. Alice dramatically huffed.

“No wonder us girls got to stick together; you boys in particular are numbskulls. You boys are just going to have to wait till the machine is done with Joshua~” Her smile grew malicious. “And then I’ll deal with you _traitors_ next.”


	12. Chapter 12

Lewis knew that a lot of bad things had happened to his sister during her time at Joey Drew Studios. He knew Joey was a weird person. What he had not known was that the studio where his sister had worked now housed sentient ink which had formed into an exact copy of the character his sister had portrayed. What was even stranger was that no one else was as confused as he was. They all looked scared and nervous, yes, but they seemed to know what was going on.

“Susie…What’s going on?” He asked. “Why…Why is there a living Alice Angel here? And why does it know my name?”

“It?!” The Alice sputtered. “I am not an it! I’m an angel!”

“Susie,” Lewis repeated, his voice becoming rather desperate. But Susie didn’t answer. Her hands were covering her mouth and she looked on the verge of tears. She’d done this. It was her fault. All the terrible thoughts that had been in the back of her mind since she’d been released from her inky prison were flooding back. This Alice had come into being because of her anger, her hatred. Joey hadn’t created this monster. She had. All the memories of her time as the monstrous Alice Angel came flooding back. The creatures, no, the people she’d killed. Some had been nothing more than mindless creatures, the Butcher Gang, the Searchers. But some…Some had pleaded with her, begged her not to take their hearts. It had been impossible for her to kill a creature of the ink, but taking their hearts sent them back to those puddles, took away their awareness. It had been as good as killing them. She’d done that. And she’d enjoyed it. She dropped to her knees, beginning to sob.

“Why are you crying, Miss Susie?” Alice looked distressed, kneeling beside the woman. “We’re going to be perfect! Isn’t that what you always wanted?” This only made Susie cry even harder.

Allison knew what was going through Susie’s mind. She had those memories too. She knew what they’d done. She remembered being a part of that tangle of hatred, alternating between sorrow and rage. Neither of them was blameless in that right. They’d been one. Blood was on both their hands.

Joey felt his stomach beginning to sink. He and Susie had always been more alike than either had cared to admit. They’d convinced themselves that the world was against them, that no one believed they could achieve their dreams. Perhaps that was the reason the two of them had made such a good couple during the brief time they’d dated. They’d been using each other, and they’d both known it. But they’d also found another person who thought they same way they did in each other. To a certain extent, he’d confronted and come to terms with what he’d done and was trying to move past it. But Susie…Susie was still struggling.

“Miss Susie?” Alice’s brow furrowed, her expression twisting into anger as she stood up. “You all did this to her!”

“What the Hell does that mean?!” Lewis felt his temper beginning to flare. He didn’t know what was going on, he’d admit that much. But he could clearly tell the little toon was trying to blame him and the others for Susie being upset.

“She wants to be perfect! I know she does!” Alice stamped her foot. “You all must have done something to her!”

“Why don’t you actually _ask_ her?” Lewis snapped. “Because I know my sister and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like people telling her how she’s supposed to feel!” Henry couldn’t help but be impressed, even if his worry over Joshua was winning out. Alice huffed, opening her mouth to ask. That was when the Ink Machine spat out Joshua. Everyone froze, staring at the young man. He was still recognizable as himself, but everything about him was…toonier. There was no color in him, just black, white, and shades of grey. His clothing hadn’t changed too much, despite being simplified, and he still had his tattoos. What was really strange were the horns poking out of his hair and the tail swishing frantically behind him.

“Don’t you look dashing?” Alice giggled, clapping her hands together. “Oh, I just knew you’d make a handsome demon!”

“Joshua?” Henry asked tentatively. Joshua looked over at Henry, and the old animator could see the terror in his son’s pie-cut eyes. He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t force words from his lips. This was just too strange.

“Why did you turn him into a toon?” Allison asked.

“Every girl loves a bad boy,” Alice said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m sure Cordelia’s going to love this. Who _wouldn’t_ want to be wooed by a handsome demon?”

“You did this for…Cordelia.” Allison said slowly.

“Of course!” Alice replied brightly. “I know I’m technically helping Miss Susie, but Dee deserves a present too! She was always so nice. Besides, it’s better to be a toon! You never grow old, you never die, it’s great!”

Lewis was now pretty sure that he was somehow hallucinating due to ink fumes. Seeing a living version of his sister’s character was one thing. But witnessing Joshua get turned into a cartoon was another altogether. Joey instinctively grabbed Henry’s hand to keep his friend from going over there and trying to throttle the angel. Joshua, meanwhile, was just staring down at himself in horror.

“You can’t just make that decision for him,” Allison said. “If he wants to become a toon, he has to make that decision on his own. If you force him into a form he doesn’t want, you’re no better than Joey.”

“But isn’t being a human awful?” Alice tilted her head to the side curiously. “Humans can be so cruel and hateful. Your father tried to drive you and Dave apart. Miss Susie got turned away and discouraged by everyone until she found this place.” Alice gestured around, then at herself and the newly transformed Joshua. “Being a human is terrible. Why else would Miss Susie want to become me?”

A hush fell over the assembled humans. To a certain extent, she was right. Humans were terrible. All of them had had experiences with the worst humanity had to offer. And, yes, a good portion of them had wished at one time or another that they could escape this terrible world that they lived in. Some of them even had, for a little. But it hadn’t been worth it. Joey had tried to hide in the ink, dragging everyone down into the depths of his misery. Susie and Allison had lashed out at the other inhabitants of the studio.

“I was wrong.”

Everyone started a bit at the sound of Susie’s voice. She hadn’t said anything for quite awhile now. Now, she looked up. Her face was tearstained and blotchy, her makeup completely ruined.

“Sorry?” Alice frowned slightly.

“I was wrong.” Susie stumbled to her feet, still sniffling a bit. “About all of it. I was wrong.”

“I…What?” Alice looked truly lost.

“I was wrong.” Susie repeated, her tears starting anew. “I-I treated everyone so terribly. I thought that I was better than everyone else and that no one would ever understand me and I was wrong.” She sniffed loudly, wiping her running nose on the back of her hand. “I drove away everyone who ever loved me. I-I made my family hate me.”

“Susie.” Lewis closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her. “We never hated you. All the things you said to us…They hurt, but they were never enough to make us hate you. We still love you. All of us do.” Susie turned and buried her face in her brother’s chest, sobbing. Alice just stood there. It was almost as though she were a robot that was malfunctioning. This was wrong. Susie…Susie wanted to be perfect. She **knew** Susie wanted to be perfect. She’d felt what Susie felt. So why…Why was it different? The ink around her began to bubble and roil as her confusion turned to anger. They had to have done something to her. This wasn’t right! Before she could do anything, however, the front door of the studio was kicked open and Cordelia came storming in.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY BOYFRIEND!”


	13. Chapter 13

....

Cordelia was _pissed_.

To be fair, that was an understatement as the woman stormed into the studio, followed by Thomas, Sammy, and Murray. She stormed into the room where the Ink Machine resided, not even fazed by the ink Alice, only pausing when she saw her toony boyfriend.

“Joshua?!” The toon weakly looked up at his girlfriend and looked away weakly. “J-Joshy?!” Cordelia looked stunned as she turned to Alice, fury obvious. “ _What_ did you do to him?!”

“Excuse you, I made him better!” Alice scolded. “You should be thankful.”

“Thankful?! _Thankful_ !?” Cordelia shrieked. “You fucking turned him into a _cartoon_ against his will!” Thomas immediately grabbed Cordelia to keep her from risking injury against the toon as even Alice took a step back, surprised at the girl’s actions.

“Geez,” Alice managed out, obviously trying to hide her fear. “You’re a little miffed, aren’t you?”

“Miffed? _MIFFED_ ?” Cordelia exclaimed. “I’ve spent 30 damn years suffering because of this God-forsaken studio and this fucking ink and now you destroyed my boyfriend’s life and you expect me to be _happy_ about that?!” She turn to Murray, angry tears in her eyes. “You can fix this?” Murray nodded quietly and carefully moved towards the young man. “Don’t you even fucking think it!” She snapped at Alice, who frowned and probably wanted to stop Murray, but froze as Cordelia snapped at her. “You are _not_ fucking my life up anymore! I’ve had it with this shithole!” Tears were welling in her eyes. “You’re no fucking better than Joey!” Thomas pulled Cordelia back. “I had to deal with fucking hell!”

“Well, humans are just-”

“From you, Susie! From _YOU_ !” Cordelia shrieked. “Ever since Joey fucking replaced you were you a vile piece of shit! You lied about Sammy and ruined his reputation! I had fucking people tell me that I was a fucking child and couldn’t take me seriously since I was his friend! People half my age or even older couldn’t believe that you bright-eyed sweetheart were a fucking liar! People all believe that my mentor ditched his family because of you! You fucking tried _blackmailing_ my boyfriend because you thought so fucking little of me that he’d be willing to throw away his morals to protect me! You thought so little of Sammy that I’m fucking shocked you two are even going to have a child to begin with!” There was dead silence as Cordelia trembled in Thomas’s arms with a mix of fury and emotional exhaustion.

“W-What?” Sammy asked softly. “S-Susie…” Alice frowned, shaking her head and placing her hands on her hips.

“Not true. He’s just a-”

“Shut you fucking trap or I’ll shut it for you.” Lewis warned the toon, still holding to his sobbing sister as Allison turned to Sammy with a sheepish smile.

“I suppose Susie didn’t have a chance to tell you yet…Congrats?” Sammy was dubstruck as Allison turned to Alice. “And you need to stop. You do not have any right to judge what we’ve been through, or make those choices from us.”

“And running away from it isn’t going to help.” Joey said quietly, grabbing the attention of them. “I dragged everyone into this mess in my attempt to run away from my own insecurities, and all that did was ruin lives, even outside the studio.” Alice gave the man a liddled look.

“Well that’s your own fault.” She said simply before frowning. “Miss Susie, you want to be perfect, I know you do! These numbskulls obviously did something to you and I’m going to fix it.” Susie lifted her head up to see the ink form a spear heading straight to her brother. Her eyes widened in fear.

“Lewis!”

.

* * *

 

.

“Wally?” Chris asked softly, him and the other two now downstairs. “You alright?”

“I can’t go back there…” He whispered softly, not to grab the attention of Bendy and Ruby, who managed to rope Boris into coloring with them and the other creatures of ink. “I want to help them, but the thought of going back…”

“No one’s making you go.” Chris said simply. “Thomas, Murray, and Sammy are with Cordelia…they can handle it with the others.” Wally shook his head. “Look, I don’t get...all of this,” He vaguely gestured to the ink creatures. “But as somebody who’s been through hell and back, I understand that this isn’t what you wanted, and how small you feel in the scheme of things….” Chris sighed softly. “I got drafted and sent to Vietnam when the conflict broke out….when Matt got injured, we all tried our best to save his arm; heck we barely saved Joshua, so we had that hope, but we couldn’t….I was one of the lead surgeons and that haunted me, Wally. I’ve spent a long time avoiding him because I couldn’t face the fact that I couldn’t save his arm.”

“You talked to him fine though when you picked up Ruby the other night.” Chris chuckled.

“It took a lot of guts when I finally visited him when I got back...the thing is Wally, allowing your fear and regret to consume you...it’s not worth it….” Chris let out a shaky sigh. “Just don’t let your fear consume you man…” Wally nodded slowly.

“Yeah…” Wally was silent for a few moments before the door slammed open, startling everyone, as Thomas led Cordelia, while Allison helped Susie into the living room. “What the heck happened?!”

“Joey attacked Alice…” Susie managed out. “H-he stopped her…”

“More like tackled her when she tried to kill Lewis like we’ve seen Murray go after a pot-roast….” Thomas muttered before helping Dee to a seat. “He, Murray, and Henry are messing with the machine and trying to keep _that_ problem from coming back.”

“Alice is back?” Bendy asked, voicing the confusion of the others.

“Sort of?” Wally admitted. “I mean, Murray just said that the ink had some of Susie’s memories and anger and made an Alice,”

“But she’s better now, right?” Ruby asked innocently, looking up at Susie. “Cause you’re happy now and with everybody!” Susie smiled softly at the child.

“It’s not that simple Ruby,” She said after a few moments. “But….but you are right...I’m with everybody and I’ll be better…” Ruby nodded slowly before hugging the woman and going over to hug Cordelia.

“Where’s Joshy?” Bendy asked slowly. “If he’s not with Pa-Henry or Mr. Drew…” Cordelia made a snort sound as Allison gave Bendy an incredulous look.

“Glad to know where we stand in the totem pole.” She chuckled while shaking her head. “He’s in the ER; he’s fine, he just landed wrong when Murray leapt after Joey.” Allison looked like she wanted to say something else, but kept it to herself as Thomas nodded.

“Sammy’s with him, as is Lewis after he lets Helen know what’s up...So they’ll be home soon enough.” He smiled to toons and child. “But, they’re going to need some help around the house for a bit, so you three are going to have to help, alright?” The three nodded.

“You bet!”

.

* * *

 

.

“Jay?” Joshua, now back to normal thanks to Murray’s magic, turned in the hospital bed and looked at Sammy.

“Yeah?” Sammy fidgeted nervously.

“Are...well…”

“Am I alright?” Joshua attempted a vague motion of a shrug. “In all honest, no, I’m not. I’ll probably never will be, but I knew that _way_ before I got kidnapped like a princess.” Sammy frowned.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it…” Joshua chuckled.

“I know, I know…” Joshua reached for him with his good hand. “There’s really nothing that we can do about that.” He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “One day at a time…one day at a time…” Sammy nodded slowly.

“Yeah…” They looked up as Lewis walked back into the hospital room.

“Alright, so we rescheduled the florist appointment for later, but for now…” He sighed as he sat next to Joshua’s bed. “What the hell’s going on? I know Drew Studios was nuts, but I have a shit ton of questions.”

“It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time Sammy. It’s not like I’m going to be allowed to go anywhere for another few hours. And I think it might be better if we all take a bit of a breather after all this sanity.” He didn’t say it, but Sammy knew Joshua was referencing the bombshell Cordelia had dropped, along with the other ‘excitement’ of the day. Sammy sighed softly.

“I will admit I don’t know most of it anyways….”


	14. Chapter 14

Although the house was filled with the chatter of Ruby, Boris, and Bendy, there was an underlying tension. Everyone was trying to pretend they were okay, but it was painfully clear that they weren’t. Sammy, Joshua, and Lewis had returned to the house a few hours after the others, and judging from the look on Lewis’ face, he’d been filled in on everything that had happened in the studio. Sammy and Cordelia were both quiet, lost in their own worlds it seemed. As soon as Joshua had returned, Cordelia had basically suctioned herself to his side. She hadn’t yet let go of his good hand. Susie had holed up in her room and was refusing to come down. Thomas was trying to comfort Allison as best he could. She was still rather rattled after the whole ordeal, and the two had grown close since leaving the studio. Thomas had taken up a bit of a paternal role towards Allison since they’d escaped. Although, he’d been protective even while the studio had been running.

After a few minutes, Wally suddenly got up and headed upstairs.

“Where are you going?” Chris asked.

“I’m gonna go talk to Susie,” Wally answered, disappearing up the stairs. He and Susie hadn’t talked much while the studio had been running, but he’d always liked her. She’d always been a sweet woman, in his opinion. He’d gone out of his way to find reasons to check on her, often emptying her trash can multiple times a day just to see how she was doing. After she’d lost her role…Well, her relationships with everyone had changed. Wally had been worried about her, but he hadn’t wanted to go near her for fear of upsetting her. He stopped outside the door to her room, his hand hovering above the wood. Part of him still saw her as that deformed Alice, the scourge of every Boris clone and ink creature. He shook his head. He had to remember what Chris had said. So, he knocked.

“Susie?” He tried to keep his voice from shaking. “You okay?”

“Wally?” Susie sounded surprised. He wasn’t surprised. He’d been giving her a wide berth as of late.

“Are you okay?” He repeated.

“Why do you care?” She asked, her voice bitter.

“I’m worried about you. We’re all worried about you.”

“…I don’t deserve to have anyone worry about me.”

Wally sighed, turning the knob and entering the room. Almost as soon as the door opened, Susie dove under the blanket, making it so that Wally could see her. The former janitor let out a snort, closing the door behind her.

“C’mon.” He said. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of **_me_**. I’m pretty much the least threatening guy you know! I was literally a puppy dog for a while!” Thankfully, that did get a laugh out of her.

“I guess you’re right.” She admitted, laughing quietly. “I don’t have any reason to be scared of you.” Then she paused, and he could see her hunching her shoulders. “But…Aren’t you angry? I hurt you. I hurt _everyone_.”

“So did Joey.” Wally sat down on the edge of the bed. “But he’s working on moving past that. You should too.” There was a long period of silence before Susie answered.

“I don’t know how.” He could hear the threat of tears in her voice.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t either.” Wally sighed, patting her back. “We’re gonna work on it, though. We’re all gonna work on it. You’re not alone.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Susie stuck her head out from under the blanket. “I tried to kill you. I tried to rip out your insides!” Wally turned away, staring at his lap. His free hand was resting on his leg, shaking imperceptibly. He took a deep breath, biting his lip.

“I’m scared.” He whispered. “Of you, of Joey, of the studio. I’m terrified. But…I was talking to Chris, and he said…He said we can’t let our fear and regret consume us. And I think he’s right. We’re outta that place. We gotta move on.”

“I guess we do.” Susie sat up, drawing the blanket over her like a cape.

“We don’t have to figure this out right away, but we will.”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Wally asked something that had been on his mind since Cordelia had revealed Susie was pregnant.

“You gonna keep the baby?”

Immediately, Susie drew into herself again, her hands going to her stomach.

“I…I’m not sure.” There had been a time when she would have been excited at the prospect of having a family with Sammy. But she’d been so awful to him and to his family. Did she even deserve to have a family with him anymore?

“It’s your choice. It’s your body, after all.” Wally said. “But you might wanna talk it over with Sammy. See if you can patch up your relationship.” Susie nodded.

Suddenly, there was another knock on the door.

“Yeah?” Wally asked.

“It’s me. I wanted to talk to Susie.” Cordelia’s voice came from the other side. “I can come back if you two are already talking about something.”

“Nah, I’m pretty much done.” Wally got up and went to the door. Cordelia managed a smile and a nod as he walked past her, going back downstairs. Then she turned her gaze to Susie.

“You wanted to say something?” Susie asked.

“I wanted to apologize,” Cordelia said, standing in the doorway. “I shouldn’t have told everyone that you were pregnant. It wasn’t right of me to expose your secret like that.”

“I guess that means you meant everything else you said,” Susie said quietly. Cordelia’s lips pursed and she leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms.

“Most of my life was dedicated to being _nice_. To making sure I didn’t give anyone any reason to hate me.” She said, her gaze firmly on the floor. “That was how I survived school, that was how I survived my first job, and I figured that was how I was going to survive the studio too.”

“I…Don’t understand what that has to do with what you said at the studio.” Susie frowned.

“What I mean is, I tried to be nice for most of my life. I didn’t want to say a bad word about anyone.” Cordelia continued. “But that meant I got walked all over most of the time. I could deal with that most of the time. I had Sammy, I had Lacie, I had _you_. You all looked out for me and made sure that no one took advantage of me. But when you lost your role and you _changed_ …” She hunched her shoulders, her hands going to her sides as they formed into fists. “It was fine when people were just picking on **me**. But you lashed out at **_everyone_**. You knew how much Sammy meant to me, how much I looked up to him, and you still spewed that poison! You tried to turn everyone against him because you were upset that he wasn’t immediately dropping everything to take your side! You were just as bad as the people who used to stuff me in lockers!” She was getting agitated now, stamping her foot. “You blackmailed my boyfriend! My _boyfriend_! Who didn’t work at the studio! As if torturing our coworkers wasn’t enough for you! That’s not even mentioning what you did to Sammy’s family!” She looked on the verge of tears now, her whole body shaking. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Do you…Hate me?” Susie asked quietly. Cordelia didn’t say anything for a painfully long time.

“I don’t hate you.” She finally answered. “I’m just frustrated. I care about you, Susie. You’re my friend. But I’m done putting up with your bullshit.” Then she turned and left. Susie hugged her knees. She’d always known Cordelia to be a kind and patient person, willing to suffer through quite a lot. But it appeared Susie had pushed her further than she could go. She really had pushed away everyone who cared about her. She started to cry quietly, pulling the blanket over her head. She wanted to fix this. She wanted to make it up to everyone. But how?

“Susie?” Her heart stopped. No no no! She didn’t want to talk to _him_! She’d just mess things up!

“Susie, I know you’re there.” She heard him sigh and cross the room, stopping right in front of her.

“Please, go away, Sammy.” She whimpered. Sammy sighed again, sitting down beside her.

“I need to talk to you, Susie.” He said. She hunched her shoulders more, refusing to say a single word. So they just sat in silence for what felt like an eternity.

“Are you angry with me?” She finally asked.

“Given what you did to my family, yes. But that’s not what this is about.”

“Then…What is this about?”

“It’s about the baby.”

This made Susie remove the blanket from her head. Sammy looked solemn, staring down at the floor with his hands folded in his lap.

“What about the baby?” Her voice was small.

“Do you want to keep it?” He asked. He wouldn’t look at her.

“I don’t know.” She admitted. “I…I wanted to have a family with you once. But…I don’t know now.”

“I don’t know either,” Sammy said. “I wanted a family with you too.” He let out a long sigh. “I still love you. But I can’t forgive you for what you did.”

“You still…Love me?” Susie’s breath caught in her throat.

“And I’m a fool for it.” He said. “In any case…I want to fix things. I doubt our little act fooled your parents at all, but I would like it if it wasn’t an act anymore.” He stood up, brushing off his pants.

“I’ll give you some time.” He leaned down, kissed her cheek, then left. Susie was left staring at the doorway, her hand on her cheek.


	15. Chapter 15

.....

“Then no need to have me there.”

“Thomas!” Sammy raised an eyebrow as he came down the stairs and saw Thomas crossing his arms as Lewis was laughing and Allison was shoving Thomas. “That isn’t an excuse not to go!”

“What?” Sammy started to ask and Ruby looked up at him.

“Thomas says he doesn’t wanna go get a suit for Lewis’s wedding. Says he’s not fit for monkeying around.” Ruby managed out before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

“It’s true!” Thomas said, shrugging absently. “Suits and me don’t get along.”

“Yet if Henry had an extra one….” Cordelia muttered sarcastically and Thomas snapped his head towards her, sending Ruby and the two toons into hysterics, while the adults were a tad bit more subtle in their laughter.

“Well, like I said…” Lewis managed out after a bit, wiping his eyes. “The invitation is out there for you guys as well..but we are enforcing dress code for the wedding, so you’re gonna have to suck it up and rent a tux if you want to come.”

“We really appreciate it, Mr. Campbell.” Allison said softly and Lewis waved his hand.

“Please, Mr. Campbell is for my students, just call me Lewis.” He said, sighing. “And it’s really nothing, you guys are welcomed to come if you want….and that invite extends to my sister as well…”

“I...really?” Wally asked, echoing most everyone’s thoughts and Lewis shrugged.

“She’s...family.” Was all he said regarding that before looking turning his attention to Ruby’s drawing.

“Do I have to wear a suit too, or can I wear a tutu?” Bendy asked, looking at the adults. “Cause I wanna wear a tutu.” Ruby frowned.

“Bendy, tutus aren’t fancy attire.” Ruby argued. “They’re for dancing.”

“But weddings have dances, right?” Boris nodded in agreement as the toddler huffed as the phone rang. Sammy was closest so he answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey Sammy,”

“Henry? Where are you calling from?”

“Through whatever bullshit Joey and Murray have, they have the studio phone working…” Sammy made a confused ‘huh’ sound. “Anyways, we just wanted to call and let you know it’s going to be a while before we’re back….the machine is being rather persnickety.” Sammy blinked slowly before he spoke.

“That’s not something you should call persnickety.”

“Well, that’s what it’s doing so that’s what I’m going to call it.” Henry retorted simply. “Anyways, we’ll be a while, so don’t worry about having dinner for us ready.” Sammy’s face betrayed his confusion as Thomas raised an eyebrow and came over.

“What’s going on?” He asked and Sammy handed the phone to him.

“I worry about that man sometimes…” He muttered as he sat next to Joshua and Cordelia while Thomas talked with Henry. “Nothing phases that man….”

“What are they doing?” Bendy asked and Sammy chuckled.

“Well, they’re working on the machine...so that way we don’t get another surprise like this again.” The two toons and Ruby nodded.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” Lewis said firmly before pushing himself to his feet. “I better get going though. I’ve got schoolwork to grade and what not,” He forced a chuckle, and wiped off his hands.

“Are you not going to talk to Susie?” Bendy asked slowly and Lewis shrug apathetically.

“There’s nothing to say that hasn’t been already said.” He explained. “There’s only so many times I can try before it’s better off talking to a brick wall.” Bendy made a face but Joshua stopped him.

“Trust me Ben, it’s alright if he doesn’t talk to her; it’s been a pretty long day for everybody.”

“But-”

“Nope, not buts.” Chris said, standing up as well. “We need to get dinner made and then bedtime.” Ruby and Boris both whined as her father picked her up. “Come on, I’m sure Mrs. Linda would be happy to have you guys help her in the kitchen.”

“So long as there’s no messes that are done on purpose.” Cordelia smiled softly as Chris led the two to the kitchen as Linda followed earning soft smiles from the other adults, though Bendy was reluctant to follow. Lewis smiled slightly and got to the demon’s eye level.

“I know it seems kind rude, but I don’t think our conversation would be the most productive if we talked right now.”

“But you’ll talk, right?”

“We’ll have to see,” He said softly, ruffling the demon’s fur. “But don’t you worry about it.” He got up and said his goodbyes as he left. Bendy made a little pouting sound and Joshua smiled.

“Don’t worry bud, it’ll all work out eventually. One way or another and maybe not how we thought it would, but it will…”

.

* * *

 

.

“What are you doing Rachel?”

“She’s moping.”

“I am not!” Rachel snapped at her brother as they were at school the following day during lunch. Isaac rolled his eyes in annoyance and looked at Sophia.

“She’s still in trouble for breaking into the studio twice.” Sophia’s eyes went wide.

“Rach-”

“I wanted to get answers.” She said firmly and Drew shuddered.

“I think there was more questions that answers,” He muttered. “Maybe we shouldn’t have tried to go at night. Creepy shit always happens at night….” Sophia rolled her eyes.

“Guys, the place is shut down for a reason.”

“Not for long you know.” Jason said, getting everyone’s attention at the table. “Saw on the news this morning; apparently the council meeting decided to give the land rights to the other owner of Joey Drew Studios.”

“So it’ll come back?” Isaac asked, earning him a shrug.

“Dunno. Depends on who the other owner was.”

“Maybe Jac-”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” The older student in question said as he walked past the table. Rachel huffed.

“Maybe Mr. Campbell knows,”

“No, he doesn’t know.” Sophia said, glaring at Rachel. “And don’t ask him!”

“Why not?” Rachel demanded. “He shouldn’t be hiding-”

“He’s not!” Sophia snapped loudly, gathering the attention of the others in the cafeteria for a moment before turning their own activities. “He’s not hiding anything Rachel! He doesn’t know anything about that stupid studio and stop asking about it!” Rachel frowned as Isaac sighed.

“Maybe we should ask Mr. Henry about it after school...or Mr. Drew…”

“That’s probably the best idea…” Jason said, knowing that there was going to be a fight in a matter of minutes if something wasn’t arranged quickly. “I mean both of them are like attached at the hip or something…” Rachel didn’t seem convinced but nodded.

“I guess you’re right. Fine. Then after school we’ll go see Mr. Ross and Joey.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of things I need to get done, but I really wanted to put this out.

“Did…Did I ever tell you all about Susanna?” Joey slurred. He, Henry, and Murray had taken a break from trying to get the machine to work. He’d found a bottle of alcohol in his desk and had proceeded to chug as much of it as he possibly could. He didn’t care how old it was, he just wanted to get drunk. Murray and Henry had declined the alcohol and were mostly just making sure Joey didn’t do something stupid. Joey historically didn’t make good decisions when he was emotionally vulnerable.

“I think I remember you mentioning her once,” Murray said, frowning slightly.

“I know **_a_** Susanna, but I don’t know if it’s the same one you’re talking about.” Henry leaned back on his hands. “So, tell us about her.”

“She was…She was such a nice lady.” Joey was laying on his back, reaching up to the ceiling. “I started dating ages ago. I was…Was going through a phase of trying to convince myself I was straight.” He started to sniffle loudly. “She was such a lovely woman and I was…I was just using her!” He started to bawl.

“Hey.” Henry moved over to gather Joey in his arms. Joey sobbed into his chest, grabbing fistfuls of Henry’s shirt. Murray just awkwardly watched, hugging his knees. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Joey cry before. It was kind of weird.

It took a minute or two before Joey was coherent enough to continue, although he was still pretty weepy.

“I loved her.” He mumbled, clutching at Henry’s shirt. “Just…not the way she deserved to be loved. She deserved a husband who would love her and take care of her and cherish her. S-She was so nice to me, even when I broke up with her!” He looked as though he was about to start bawling again.

“Why did you break up with her?” Murray asked.

“She got pregnant.” Joey hunched his shoulders, drawing away from Henry.

“ **You** got a woman pregnant?” Henry’s eyes widened.

“We only had sex a few times, and I only forgot to wear a condom once.” Joey eyed the rest of the bottle of alcohol. “I didn’t think it would happen.”

“No one ever does,” Henry said.

“I know it was shitty to just dump her like that…But I panicked.” Joey took a long sip from his bottle. “I couldn’t be a father. I couldn’t support her. I’d just mess it all up.” He paused. “I wonder what ever happened to her.”

“It doesn’t seem like people move away from here, so she’s probably still around. You could probably meet up with her again.” Murray suggested.

“How would I even face her?” Joey moaned, flopping onto the ground again. “I abandoned her to take care of her child on her own! She probably hates me!”

“YOU HAVE A KID?!”

The men’s attention snapped to the doorway. Rachel stood there, eyes wide, with Jason, Drew, and Isaac behind her.

“We have a cousin?” Isaac’s eyes lit up.

“Hi, sweetheart.” Joey smiled dreamily, waving at his niece and nephew.

“Holy fuck,” Rachel whispered.

“What’s their name?” Isaac asked, taking a step forward. “Do we have an aunt? What’s her name?”

“I…I dunno the kid’s name.” Joey waved his hand in a vague gesture. “Broke up with Susanna before they were born.” Almost immediately, Rachel bolted out of the studio, heading toward Henry’s house. She had to tell everyone. They had to know. Her friends followed after her, although Isaac stayed to satisfy his curiosity. Not to mention, he was a little worried about his uncle.

When Rachel arrived at the house, Bertram and Sammy were in the midst of an argument. Nancy and Augustus had just announced they would be getting married as well and both men were blaming each other for this. Everyone was watching them, mostly because it was entertaining but also to make sure the two of them didn’t kill each other.

“UNCLE JOEY HAS A KID!” Rachel screamed, slamming the door open. Everything stopped and the inhabitants of the living room turned to look at her.

“Well, yeah.” Bendy folded his arms. “He’s got me, Boris, and Angel. But Angel’s not here right now.”

“No no, not you.” Rachel said. “He has a human kid! He got some lady pregnant!”

“Since when?” Susie demanded. She’d come downstairs when Sammy and Bertram had started yelling. During the brief time she and Joey had dated, if you could even call it dating, he’d refused to have sex with her. Quite vehemently in fact.

“I don’t know!” Rachel started tugging on one of her braids. “But I heard him say it! He got some lady pregnant and then he just dumped her!”

“What’s her name?” Cordelia asked, trying desperately to hide her curiosity.

“I think he said it was Susanna or something.” Jason supplied.

“Huh. My mom’s name is Susanna.” Chris said, laughing slightly. Everyone turned now to look at him.

“What? Why’s everyone looking at me?”

“Maybe Mr. Drew’s your daddy!” Ruby said brightly.

“That would be pretty funny, huh?” Chris patted his daughter’s head. Everyone kept staring at him.

“Do you know who your dad is?” Boris asked.

“Well, no-” Chris began before he was cut off.

“So he could be your dad!” Bendy’s eyes widened. “That would make us siblings!!”

“Chris’ mom isn’t the only person in the world to be named Susanna.” Joshua pointed out, trying to calm the toons. “I’m sure she’s not the same Susanna Joey knew.”

“Let’s take him a picture.” Rachel said. “I want to know.”

“They’re really probably not the same person.” Chris insisted, but Ruby had already gotten excited.

“If Mr. Drew’s your daddy, then that makes him my grandpa, right?” She asked, her eyes shining.  “He’d make such a cool grandpa!” Chris sighed. He didn’t want to ruin Ruby’s good mood, but the Susanna Joey knew probably wasn’t Chris’ mom.

After some negotiation, he went and got a picture of his mother and headed over to the studio with the others. The majority of the people at Henry’s house wanted to see what the outcome of this was going to be. They needed a source of entertainment, after all. By the time they all arrived, Joey had mostly sobered up. But he was still talking with Isaac.

“Uncle Joey!” Rachel yelled, running over. “We have something we need to show you!” She looked back at Chris, gesturing for him to show Joey the picture. Chris sighed.

“Is this the Susanna you got pregnant?” He asked, holding up the picture for Joey to see. Joey’s eyes widened, his mouth dropping open.

“That’s…” He reached out with shaking hands to take the photograph. “That’s her. Where…Where did you find this?”

“…That’s my mom.” Chris slowly replied. Ruby’s face lit up. Squealing, she threw herself onto Joey.

“Grandpa!”


	17. Chapter 17

...

“Son of a mother fucking bitch.” Chris grumbled as he rubbed the bridge of his nose while the studio staff was both ragging on Joey and exciting Ruby and the two toons in regards to this news. 

“I’m sorry, Chris,” Henry said. “I didn’t know Joe-”

“I’m not mad at that,” Chris said sternly, brushing off Henry’s hand. “I’m more irritated at the fact that it got blasted to everybody, without a chance for me to talk to the idiot in question first.”

“It was Rachel’s idea, sir…She said everybody had to know….” Drew admitted sheepishly and the look Chris gave as he wiped his face said it all.

“Of fucking course it was.” He muttered, trying to temper his anger. Cordelia smiled softly as she urged Ruby to go see her father. The toddler seemed to catch onto that something was up with her father as she went to her dad and he picked her up, holding her close. “Well, I suppose we’ll have some...catching up to do later. In private.” Rachel looked at him in surprise.

“But-”

“In private.” He said sternly, glaring at Rachel before turning to his daughter. “Let’s go see if Nana needs helps at the diner ok?” Ruby nodded slowly and Chris exchanged looks with Joshua, who nodded simply before the man left. Rachel frowned and cross her arms before Jason nudged her.

“Chillax Doc, you’re getting that look in your eye again.” Rachel glared at him.

“I am no-”

“Enough.” Joshua said sternly. “We’re all going to pretend this little clusterfuck didn’t happen and move on.”

“But-”

“No buts, Rachel.” Joshua warned. “Your behavior is inappropriate and uncalled for. Stop it.” He turned to the adults. “And stop fucking encouraging her.”

“But it’s my un-”

“Mr. Foster’s right though, Rachel.” Isaac said slowly, grabbing the attention of everyone. “I mean maybe you could’ve waited…”

“Yeah, I mean the guy didn’t exactly say that you could tell everybody…” Drew admitted. “I don’t think he was even aware we were walking in on him and Mr. Ross and you…” He absently motioned to Murray. “Maybe we coulda waited? At least, until they talked to us?”

“Yeah, cause now they’re gonna have to be friendly with each other.” Jason added offhandedly. “Especially since you got Ruby all excited about the idea of Mr. Drew being her grandpa. It would be kinda rude to burst her bubble...” Rachel fumed angrily as Henry sighed.

“Perhaps we can talk about this at a later time; we’ve still got to fix the machine, ok?” Henry said slowly.

“Yeah, we should let you guys get back to work.” Cordelia said, chuckling nervously.

“Why does it need to be fixed?” Rachel demanded and Joshua took her shoulder.

“None of your fucking business.  _ You _ are going to have to explain to your mother about these stunts you’ve pulled.” Rachel paled slightly as Cordelia took her boyfriend’s hand.

“I’ll take them home, Joshua, how about you go ahead home; Roy could probably use the help with dinner tonight,” Joshua paused but nodded and after sighing, realizing that he was going to lose his temper, left the studio, the door slamming on his way out. She sighed softly before leading the children out. Once they were gone there was a bit of an awkward pause before Wally spoke up.

“Things are just getting weirder and weirder huh?” 

“Well...congratulations, I guess…” Allison admitted softly. Joey just sighed softly and hugged his knees.

“I just keep screwing things up.” He muttered softly and Henry sighed.

“Come on Joey, you’re getting better.” He said. “We’re getting better….we just have to fix the machine and then we’ll deal with...that bombshell…”

“Yeah, you three work on that thing,” Thomas said simply. “We’ll do our best to handle the nosy kids.”

“I don’t know, Rachel’s pretty nosy.” Bertie muttered. “She’s certainly your niece, Joey.”

“Bertie!” Susie exclaimed and the man shrugged.

“Well, I’m not wrong, am I?” Susie and Bertie began to bicker and Joey couldn’t help but chuckle slightly, feeling the support of his friend and former coworkers.

“T-Thank you guys…”

.

* * *

 

.

“Daddy?” Chris looked at Ruby as they walked to the diner. “Are you mad at Rachel and Mr. Joey?” Chris let out a sigh.

“Daddy’s just a little irritated with her sticking her nose into things.” He said slowly. “And I’m a little annoyed with Joey, I’m not gonna lie to you baby…” He sighed as he tried to think of the best way to explain his frustrations to his little girl. “It really stinks to learn that he was my dad and he didn’t even bother.” He said slowly. “He didn’t even bother trying…” They entered the diner where Hye Moon was chatting with Susanna and her husband, Peter. “Ah, well, this is awkward.” The three looked up at them in mild confusion.

“Well, I sure hope you have an explanation for that remark.” Hye said simply as she came over to take Ruby and hold the girl. “That’s not something you telling returning vacationers,” Chris rolled his eyes as he sat down across from his parents as Hye sat Ruby on her lap while she folded napkins. Susanna chuckled and patted her son’s hand.

“We’ve heard through the grapevine that something’s going down with the studio,” Peter said. “I’ve been trying to contact your uncle, but you know how he is with the game of phone tag.” Chris chuckled before sighing.

“That’s one way of putting it…” He said before sighing. “So I found out about Joey Drew being my biological father.” May as well rip the bandaid off, all things considered. “Apparently the Klien kid overheard Joey being drunk and found out.” Susanna and her husband blinked slowly as Hye was a little less subtle.

“I should be surprised, but I’m not.” Hye shook her head as Ruby looked up at Hye.

“You knew Mr. Joey’s my Grandpa Nana?” Hye chuckled and shook her head.

“Oh no, darling, I don’t mean it like that,” She explained. “I mean it doesn’t surprise me that Mr. Drew keeps popping up into things.”

“Oh…” Susanna sighed softly as her son looked at her.

“Well, I suppose it would come up eventually, but it really isn’t anything…we broke up and then a few months later, I met Peter and we hit it off,”

“Married and rest is history.” Peter finished, shrugging as he pushed up his glasses. “I mean it is a bit surprising that it’s Joey Drew...” Chris shrugged simply, nodding.

“So what are you thinking of doing?” Hye asked slowly. “I mean besides dealing with the nosy ones.”

“Cordelia’s probably going to talk to Esther and Robert about it...Joshua’s told me that she’s sticking her foot in her mouth at school and is testing all of our patience.” He laughed nervously. “And the adults just need some more stuff to do.”

“And in regards to Joey?”

“I dunno, Hye, what are you suggesting?” Was the sarcastic retort.

“Maybe Mr. Joey can have dinner here?” Ruby piped up and Hye beamed mischievously. 

“That’s my darling, so smart!” Susanna chuckled as Peter hid his smile as Chris gave a deadpan look at the woman. “You are a very smart cookie Ruby!”

.

* * *

 

.

“Ms. Bell?” Robert asked as he opened the door. “This is a surprise, is everything alright?” Cordelia smiled softly as Isaac looked sheepish while Rachel fumed, arms crossed.

“More or less,” she said. “Is Esther home? We....have somethings to discuss.” Robert sighed.

“Please tell me it’s school related?” Cordelia smiled slightly.

“In a way….but mostly it has to do with the studio.” Robert let out a long sigh before opening the door and letting her and the kids in.

“Come on in, I’ll go grab Esther and meet you in the living room.” Cordelia led the two children to the living room and sat down. Rachel’s foot bounced as she crossed her arms, refusing to look at Cordelia or her brother as Esther came into the room, followed by Robert.

“Ms. Bell? What’s going on?” Cordelia chuckled nervously.

“Well...there’s some good news, and some….some other things we need to discuss…including the fact Chris is your nephew….and you’re a great-aunt.”


	18. Chapter 18

Rachel had fucked up. She’d fucked up before, but this…This was different than before. Before, people had just yelled at her. A few people had yelled at her this time, but the looks on their faces weren’t the same. They’d been really angry this time. Really really angry. She had a feeling this wasn’t something that was going to go away. She’d irrevocably changed someone’s life. Esther had sent her and Isaac up to their rooms after Cordelia had informed her about Joey’s connection to Chris and Ruby. Rachel sat on the edge of her bed, kicking her feet and gnawing on her lip. She listened as her parents talked with her teacher in the living room. She couldn’t make out anything they were saying, but she didn’t need to hear it to know what Cordelia was telling them.

Esther was going to be furious with her, Rachel just knew it. Her mother always got so upset when Rachel meddled in the affairs of others. No justification was ever good enough, and for good reason. Rachel tended to do a lot of things she shouldn’t in her pursuit of ‘truth’ and ‘justice’. Rachel knew that she was doing something wrong, but it had to be justified, right? She was doing the right thing…wasn’t she?

She flinched when her mother finally entered her room.

“Don’t do that, sweetheart. I’m not going to yell at you.” Esther sighed, sitting down next to her. Rachel avoided her mother’s gaze, hunching her shoulders and continuing to kick.

“…I messed up, didn’t I?” She whispered.  

“You did.” Esther nodded. Rachel’s lip began to quiver, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Am I in trouble?” She asked quietly.

“Well, you’re grounded for the next few days, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Rachel turned to look at her mother, still sad but also a little puzzled. Her mother wasn’t yelling at or lecturing her. She just looked…tired. This made Rachel feel even worse. She could deal with her mother when she was angry or upset. She didn’t know what to do when her mother looked defeated like this. The only other time she’d seen Esther look like this was the day her mother had discovered Joey was alive and living under Henry Stein’s roof.

“Isn’t it…good?” Rachel asked. “That Uncle Joey has family? That he’s not alone?”

“It is, but it would have been better if you hadn’t announced it in front of everyone.” Esther turned to her, beginning to fix Rachel’s braids. Rachel didn’t resist. She liked it when her mother did her hair, and it always calmed Esther down. She turned her back to Esther so that she could undo Rachel’s braids and redo them.

“…I didn’t think about that.” Rachel mumbled. Now that she **did** think about it, it had been a pretty shitty thing to do, just yelling it out like that.

“I know.” Esther sighed heavily. “You’re just like Joey. You two never think things through.” Rachel hunched her shoulders, wincing at the comparison.

“I’m not like him.” She said weakly.

“I know you think he’s a monster, but he’s not.” Esther tugged at Rachel’s hair a bit, untangling a knot that had formed. “He’s a man who made a lot of bad decisions.” And he’s my brother. Esther didn’t say this, but Rachel knew she was thinking it. She knew her mother and Joey hadn’t always gotten along, but they loved each other. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do if Isaac did what Joey had. But she’d still love him. She knew that much.

“I don’t want you to do what he did.” Esther continued. “It’s dangerous to charge into things without fully thinking through the consequences. That’s what Joey was doing. He never stopped to consider how his actions would affect others and he…” She stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath and returning to braiding her daughter’s hair. “I don’t want you to end up like him.”

“He’s getting better.” Rachel echoed her brother’s words. Isaac was still rather taken with their uncle. He was happy to be near a pioneer in the animation industry, even if Joey’s talent laid only in ideas.

“But he still made some bad decisions and hurt a lot of people.” Esther carded her fingers through Rachel’s hair. “You’ve hurt a lot of people too, darling.”

“…I know.” Rachel’s shoulders slumped. For a few minutes, they just sat in silence. Esther was more than a little worried. Rachel had never been a particularly quiet child. Even from the time she’d been very little, Rachel had always been talkative. Isaac was the quieter one, following his sister mutely, eyes wide with wonder. Esther worried about Rachel a lot. Rachel could be so impulsive, so hot-tempered. No matter how many times Esther tried to steer her down the right path, Rachel never seemed to get the message. Then Rachel glanced back at her mother.

“Do you think I can get better, Mom?” She looked small and scared at that moment. She was only 14. Esther’s expression softened and she dropped her hands, the braids forgotten.

“I do.” She smiled gently, drawing her daughter into her arms. Rachel buried her face in her mother’s chest, starting to sniffle and sob. She didn’t mean to hurt anyone. She just wanted to know the truth. Esther held her, stroking her hair and patting her back.

“Is Rachel going to be okay?” Isaac asked. He’d crept downstairs after Cordelia had left, wanting to see how his parents had reacted. He was with his father on the couch. Robert looked just as tired as his wife.

“I’m not sure,” Robert admitted.

“She did mess up pretty bad this time.” Isaac started to fiddle with his sketchpad. He drew when he was nervous. He was doodling a toon version of his family, Joey included.

“She did.” Robert nodded.

“Do you think she’ll get better like Uncle Joey?” Isaac looked over at his father, biting his lip. Everyone in their family had a habit of biting and licking their lips. None of them were sure why they did it, but it got worse when they were nervous. Isaac liked to rag on his sister, it was what siblings did, but he was genuinely worried about her this time. Everyone had been so angry.

“We’re going to try and help her get better,” Robert reassured him, pulling Isaac to his chest. “I promise, it’s going to be alright.”

“Okay.” Isaac turned his attention back to his sketchpad, finishing sketching out Rachel’s braids. They were sticking up in the air because she was supposed to be mad at something Joey was doing. Isaac allowed himself a smile. He did hope things were going to be alright. They would be alright, he told himself. They always were.

.

Joey wasn’t in the best of moods. He’d been sitting in a corner ever since everyone had left. He’d felt good in the beginning, knowing he had the support of his friends. But now, left alone, his regrets were coming back up. He’d had a son all this time and he’d just abandoned him. He was a terrible person. This left  Henry and Murray to finish fixing the machine. Thankfully, they were almost finished anyway. They figured that maybe a complete version of Alice would make him feel a bit better. The template of Alice was still in the machine, and letting it produce an Alice would alleviate some of the problems. At least, that was what Murray was assuming. Henry still didn’t exactly understand what the machine did, although Thomas had given him an explanation and a diagram to help.

“Okay, I think we’ve got it fixed.” Henry clambered down, going over to Joey. “Do you want to see if it’ll work?” Joey nodded dejectedly, allowing Henry to help him up and lead him over to the machine.

“God, I hope this doesn’t blow up in my face.” Murray muttered before turning it on. The machine groaned to life, beginning to shake and rattle. Joey’s lips were set in a thin line. He remembered all the times before when he’d used the machine. The last time the machine had tried to produce an Alice, it had been because he’d thrown the bodies of Susie Campbell and Allison Pendle into it. He’d killed his employees, his **_friends_** , and threw them into this machine to try and further his own selfish goals. He didn’t deserve to be the father of someone as wonderful as Chris. He wasn’t even really a father.

“Does it look like it’s working?” Murray called from atop the machine.

“I think so?” Henry wasn’t really sure what he was looking for, but the machine was certainly producing ink. A lump of ink was forming below the spigot. Eventually, the flow stopped, leaving the lump of ink. And slowly, slowly, the lump began to form into something almost recognizable. A body began to form, that of a small, slightly stocky woman.

“It’s working.” Henry gasped, shaking Joey. Joey, who hadn’t been paying attention at all, snapped back to reality.

“It is?” His eyes widened as he saw the figure before them. “Oh my goodness it is.”

“Thank God.” Murray scrambled down to join them as Alice finished forming. She looked like a mix of Allison and Susie, different from her cartoon counterpart but still recognizable. Alice slowly opened her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering.

“Where…” She looked around blearily. “Where are my moms?”

“Susie and Allison are back at the house.” Henry said. “They’re probably with Bendy and Boris. Do you want to see them?” Alice nodded shyly, shrinking a little under their gaze. It was possible she still remembered the little stunt she’d pulled.

“Alright. Follow me.” Henry gestured for her to follow. As they headed for the exit, the phone rang.

“I’ve got it.” Joey went to answer it.

“Hello?” He asked, picking up the phone.

“Hey.” Chris sighed on the other end.

“O-Oh! Chris! Hello!” Immediately, Joey was nervous. He knew Chris wasn’t the fondest of him. And finding out that Joey happened to be the father who’d abandoned him before he was born probably hadn’t helped his feelings.

“Yeah. Hey. Look, are you free tonight?”

“Um, yes, I am.” Joey frowned slightly. “Why?” Chris sighed again, obviously unhappy with whatever he was about to say.

“Ruby wanted to invite you to dinner.” He said.

“That’s a gracious invitation.” Joey couldn’t help but smile. “I’d love to come to dinner.”

“Great. My parents and Hye are going to be there, just so you know. Be here at 7.” He hung up as quickly as possible, leaving Joey wide-eyed and stunned. Fuck. He was going to have to face Susanna.

“Who was that?” Murray asked as Joey slowly put down the phone.

“Chris…invited me to dinner.” Joey nearly whimpered. “And Susanna’s going to be there.” Henry strode over to pat Joey’s back.

“It’ll be fine.” He assured him. “I think it’ll be good for you to talk this out with her.”

“Well…Alright.” Joey chewed on his lip.

“I wanna see Miss Susie and Allison!” Alice proclaimed from the doorway, her arms folded. Henry chuckled, glancing back at Joey. Joey managed a shaky smile before heading out with Henry and Murray. It looked as though he was doing this, whether he liked it or not.


	19. Chapter 19

 ...

“Moms!!” Susie and Allison were understandably shocked when Alice Angel all but leapt towards them and hugging them tight as Henry, Joey, and Murray came back home. Bendy made a face and crossed his arms.

“Well hi to you too.” He muttered and Henry chuckled, ruffling the demon’s head.

“She’s just excited to see Allison and Susie, Bendy, I’m sure she’ll tackle you too in time.” Joey smiled slightly.

“She wanted to see them first…” Henry patted his friend’s back while Sammy grunted out a vague hello, hunched over a paper with some of the searchers and Boris. “What are you all doing?”

“Trying to figure out who’s related to who here.” Sammy said. “It was Boris’s idea,”

“I wanna make sure I know everybody!” The wolf said excitedly, holding up the childish drawing of everybody with color coded arrows pointing every which way. “And I drew it myself!” Joey smiled softly.

“Smart plan Boris.” He said before sighing softly. He wiped his face, remembering what he had to do later. “Chris is going to kill me.”

“He won’t.” Thomas said simply, shaking his head. “Kid’s not like that.” Joey looked at Thomas in disbelief.

“He just found out that _I_ am the birth father that left him before he was born!” Joey gestured to himself. “And I was the one spewing the bullshit about abandonment issues!”

“Well, no one is denying your hypocrisy, Joey,” Norman noted. “But we’ve seen Chris, and we know him.” Joey looked at Norman in disbelief and the other man couldn’t help but smile. “He’s probably more angry about how he found out, than you being the man in question.”

“Are you going to talk to him?” Susie asked slowly as Alice decided to tackle Bendy into a hug. Joey sighed.

“Well, Ruby invited me for dinner and I’ll be meeting everybody there at the diner…including Susanna...”

“See, no biggie,” Susie chuckled. “You won’t die cause Chris wouldn’t do anything past PG in front of his baby girl.” Joey gave a lidded look to Susie as Henry chuckled.

“It’ll be fine Joey. Susanna and Peter are pretty mellow. Hye will probably tease you mercilessly, but she won’t call you anything horrible in anything you can understand.” Joey looked at Henry in confusion.

“Wait, who’s Peter?”

.

* * *

 

.

“Hi Mr. Drew!!” Ruby waved from the table where Chris was sitting with his parents. Joey weakly waved back before making his way to the table seeing Susanna and a man about her age sitting with them, no doubt Peter, as Chris avoided eye contact with Joey, instead watching the servers of the diner move about.

“Hi, Ruby…” He awkwardly smiled at Susanna. “Hi...Susanna…”

“Joey.” Susanna said, smiling slightly. “You’ve certainly been busy.”

“He helps watch me when I am at Uncle Henry’s!” Ruby piped up. “He lets me and Bendy and Boris watch Zoboomafoo! But he likes to talk a lot during it.” Ruby frowned, earning chuckles as Joey looked at her.

“It’s a little confusing for me,” He said. “It’s not like I’ve seen shows quite like that before….” He turned to Susanna. “Susanna, I-”

“Don’t even.” She said, crossing her arms. “Joey, you knew exactly what you were doing back then, and we talked about it. You wouldn’t be able to support both me and a child. And frankly it’s a miracle anybody believed that you were _actually_ straight, even before our breakup.” Joey’s face went red as he coughed nervously as Ruby looked at her dad in confusion who just wiped his face and groaned. “I’m being serious Joey.”

“I don’t think I needed to know that.” Peter muttered softly before looking at Joey. “Peter Charles…” Joey paled slightly as the man introduced himself, recognizing why the man seemed familiar. “Yes, related to Alexander, Grant’s father. We’ve gotten the lowdown from him earlier….”

“Henry said I wasn’t going to die…” Joey squeaked, earning giggles from Ruby.

“Mr. Joey, you sound so silly!”

.

* * *

 

.

“How was it Joey?” Henry asked as Joey shuffled into the house an hour later. Joey shrugged and sat next to Henry on the couch.

“I...I’m not sure…” He admitted, looking at his feet. “I mean, Susanna was certainly nicer about the whole ordeal than I think I deserve...and finding out that Grant and I are not quite related is a little trippy….Hye did tease me about the cost of alimony, but everyone was polite and we talked about stuff...” Joey sighed and wiped his face. “I screwed up so much, Henry….is there really any hope for me?” Henry looked at his friend for a while before sighing.

“Joey, what you did was horrifying and something that even serial killers don’t do, I can’t sugarcoat that...but at the same time...you were suffering in that studio along with everybody else…” Joey looked at Henry in surprise. “I know you pretty well, Joey, and I know what I saw in the studio when I went in.” Joey stared at his friend in disbelief before shaking his head.

“You’re a biased sentimental old man,”

“I’m a man who realizes that you’re acknowledging that you screwed up and are trying to amend for it.” He patted Joey’s back.

“Chris still hates my guts.”

“He’s concerned what this bombshell is going to mean for him and Ruby.” Henry explained simply. “It’s one of those things that can either be a good thing or be a bad thing...it depends on what you do, Joey.” Joey groaned.

“Great, another thing to screw up.” Henry frowned.

“No, you’re not going to screw it up.” He argued. “You know not to do bull shit like that again, and you have support and people who care about you. And you have your sister, who even you’ve said scares the crap out of you.” Joey snorted.

“I did say something along those lines…” Henry hugged his friend tightly.

“You’ve got this Joey, I truly believe you do.” Joey smiled, for once finally feeling like someone believed in him.

“Thank you…Thank you Henry….”

.

* * *

 

.

“Why.” Lewis looked up from his papers, over his reading glasses to see his sister in front of him.

“I’m going to need a bit more context Sue.” She groaned as she rolled her eyes at the childhood nickname, sitting down across from him at his kitchen table. “And also, how did you find out where I lived?”

“Asked Dave. And Sophia told me you were in here.” Lewis saw his step daughter pull her head back from sneaking a peek in before scurrying upstairs. He chuckled softly before removing his glasses. “Now, why did you invite me for your wedding?”

“Because you’re family.” Lewis said simply. “Even before you vanished you were going to get an invite if I got married.” Susie stared at him in shock as he shrugged. “Yeah, I knew you worked at the studio...but I respected the fact you didn’t want anything to do with me or anybody else…” He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “I figured it wouldn’t hurt…” Susie was quiet as she fiddled with her hands.

“Even after all I done, you still want me, you still love me?” Lewis shrugged.

“You know what Ma says about glass houses, Sue…” Lewis said softly before sighing and looking at her. “There’s things I done that some people have called me a monster for, but that’s not the point; You’re family, and I’ll always love family.” Susie smiled softly. “And besides, it’s not a Campbell wedding without _some_ sort of chaos. At least I know you _won’t_ face plant into the cake.” Susie couldn’t help but laugh and Lewis smiled; he really had missed his sister and was glad she was back in his life. After a little bit, Susie wiped the corners of her eyes and sighed softly, before her face fell. “Susan?”

“Lewis…” She sighed softly. “I...I don’t know if I can keep the baby…” She covered her face as she slumped against the table. “I mean, I did want to have a family with Sammy, I really did! But then I lost the role...and…”

“Yeah, you were bat shit insane.” Susie looked at him in shock, to which he returned with a lidded glare. “Well I’m not wrong.” She huffed before sighing in defeat, deflating.

“I know...and Sammy said he still loved me...but he deserves much better...and I’m afraid that’ll I’ll fuck the kid up or they’ll resent me if I put them up for adoption…” Lewis nodded slowly as he listened to his baby sister. He was silent for a bit before he let out a long sigh.

“You could talk to Nancy, now don’t give me that look; Nancy helps out with the foster system in this part of the state, and she’d be able to set you up with somebody who can help you go through the processes and stuff…” He paused, as if he wanted to say something else before sighing. “She might even be willing to adopt the child herself after she and Gus get married….” Susie looked at him in shock and he held up his hands. “Hey, it’s a suggestion; I know that she and him are looking into adoption...something about health risk but obviously that’s a personal thing so I never asked.” He shrugged as Susie thought about that option, biting her lip.

“I’ll...I’ll sit and talk with Sammy...about it…” She muttered and her brother looked at her, taking her hands.

“Hey, Susan…” He said gently. “I know it’s scary, but please remember, you’re not alone in this. You really aren’t.” Susie sniffed before standing up and hugging her older brother tightly. “I love you sis…”

“I love you too…”


	20. Chapter 20

Susie was going to a wedding. She couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought. She was going to make up with her family and everything would be alright. Still, she was a little nervous. Her parents had probably seen through her pretend relationship with Sammy. But would it be pretend for much longer? He _had_ said he wanted to make things better. She was headed back to Henry’s house now, since that was basically where they all lived at this point. She’d promised Lewis she’d have a long talk with Sammy about the situation with the baby. She was still a little nervous, still scared he’d see her as the awful monster she thought she was. She’d hurt so many people…But if Joey could get better, then she could too. When she got back to the house, Joey was sitting on the couch, smiling vaguely to himself. Evidently, the dinner had gone alright. Judging from the overall silence, it was just her, the toons, and Joey in the house.

“Is…Sammy here?” She asked quietly.

“He’s out with Nancy and Bertie’s nephew.” Joey replied, still smiling into the distance. “They should be back soon.”

“I’m going to wait upstairs.” Susie said. She started up the stairs, but Joey stopped her.

“I, uh, I want to talk to you.” He said, his smile fading. Susie felt her blood run cold. She’d been trying to avoid talking to him. His rehabilitation was still a fairly recent thing. Part of her, a part she wasn’t entirely aware of, was afraid he’d go back to the way he’d been before. She was afraid he’d convince **her** to go back to the way she’d been before.

“Um…Alright?” She turned tentatively back to him.

“Come. Sit.” He gestured to her, patting the space beside him. Susie stayed where she was for a moment or two, her whole body tensed.

“Please.” None of them had aged while trapped in the ink, so Joey was physically only about 40 or so. In that moment, though, he looked much older. There was a shadow over his features, a weariness in his eyes. She could see the crow’s feet around his eyes and the wrinkles around his mouth. There was even some grey developing around his temples.

Susie bit her lip, but slowly walked over and sat down beside Joey. Joey made no attempt to touch her, no attempt to draw her closer. He let her sit a good distance away, giving her as much space as she needed. Susie folded her hands in her lap, staying tensed and anxious and avoiding eye contact.

“I can’t remember if I’ve apologized to you yet.” Joey said, staring into the distance. “I feel like a proper apology is long overdue.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me.” Susie kept her gaze on her lap. She didn’t trust herself not to look at him. “I made my own decisions.”

“I do need to apologize.” Joey’s voice was firm. “I preyed on your insecurities and vulnerabilities and manipulated you to serve my own goals. I toyed with your emotions. It was…A bit of a dick move as Miss Bell would say.”

Susie couldn’t help but snort at this. “That’s one word for it.”

“In any case,” Joey cleared his throat, trying to hide his small smile. “I owe you an apology. I’m…I’m so sorry.” His smile dropped, his gaze lowering to his hands. “I know…I know nothing I can say will fix any of this, least of all the damage it’s done to your relationship with Sammy and the others, nor does it make what I’ve done any better, but I’m deeply and truly sorry.”

“I appreciate it.”  Susie said.

They lapsed into silence, just sitting beside each other as the toons upstairs bickered like siblings. Susie wanted to go to them and hide for a bit, but she sensed the conversation wasn’t over yet.

“Did you ever love me?” Susie asked. It was a question that had nagged at the back of her mind ever since she’d been sacrificed to become Alice.

“I…” Joey exhaled slowly, starting to wring his hands in his lap. That told Susie all she needed to know. Her heart sank. She’d known that was likely the case. She’d known Joey probably hadn’t truly loved her. But it still hurt to know.

“I’m sorry.” Joey said. “You’re a lovely woman, I just-”

“I understand.” Susie cut him off. Her expression was weary and resigned.

Silence descended upon the room once more. Guilt was gnawing at Joey’s stomach, not for the first time. Susie had always been so self-conscious. He’d taken advantage of that in order to further his goals, using her own self-doubt and need to be loved.

“You know, you’ve changed.” Susie finally said.

“Is that a good thing?” Joey smiled nervously.

“It is.” Susie assured him. “You weren’t…happy while the studio was running. You were so obsessed with proving you could be successful.” She’d been worried about him, in all honesty. Everyone had been able to see how Joey had spiraled out of control. And…Susie had loved him. For a time, at least. Their relationship may have simply been a ruse for Joey to manipulate her, but she’d loved him. He’d made her feel special and wonderful.

“I lost sight of the dream Henry and I had.” Joey agreed, his lips twisting in something like shame. “I thought the ends justified the means.” He sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping. His shirt was a few sizes too large, almost seeming to engulf him. “Nothing lasts forever. I should have understood that.”

“I should have understood that too.” Susie turned her gaze away from him. “I just…didn’t want to let go of Alice.”

“You seem better now, though.” She continued. “Happier. Or, at the very least, less likely to have a mental breakdown.”

“I’ve still got a ways to go.” Joey managed a weak smile. “I could always fall back into my old ways.”

“I doubt Henry or your sister is going to let you do that.” Susie returned the smile. “You’re going to get there. We both will.”

“Thank you, Susie.”

“You’re welcome.” Susie gave him an encouraging smile, patting his shoulder with her fingertips. Joey nodded vaguely. Satisfied the conversation was now over, she got up and left the room. As she ascended the stairs, she heard whispering coming from a door to the left. It was the room Boris and Bendy had been staying in, and which Alice would now likely be staying it as well. Susie was still a little nervous around Alice. She didn’t know if she was even worthy of being in her character’s presence. Especially not after what she’d done in the name of becoming Alice. She stopped outside the door.

“This is all so complicated.” Alice was saying. “How can all of these people be related to each other?”

“You got me there,” Bendy replied. “It’s like everybody’s related to everybody around here.”

“Kinda makes my head hurt.” There was a whine in Boris’ voice.

Susie took a deep breath, tentatively knocking on the door. Bendy and Boris stopped talking, but Alice let out a delighted squeal.

“It’s Mama!”

Alice had quickly decided that Susie was Mama and Allison was Mom, since they were both her moms. She needed to be able to distinguish them, after all. Susie couldn’t help but feel her heart leap at being called ‘mama’.

There was a bit of scrambling and the door was quickly wrenched open by a beaming Alice. Behind her, Susie could see Bendy and Boris crowded around the chart the boys had started earlier.

“Hi Mama!” Alice said brightly.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Susie smiled softly. “What are you three doing?”

“We’re still trying to figure out the whole family tree thing.” Bendy pointed at the chart.

“Maybe you can help with it?” Boris tilted his head to the side, looking rather like a puppy. Susie’s smile widened.

“Well, I can try.” She conceded.

“Come on!” Alice grabbed her hand, dragging her inside. Susie laughed quietly, allowing Alice to sit her down.

.

“You know, you really didn’t need to come along.” Nancy said through gritted teeth.

“No, I think I did.” Sammy replied. Augustus and Nancy had decided that today was a good day to go shopping for outfits for Lewis’ wedding and possibly for their own. Sammy had decided to pull the ‘shotgun brother’ card. Nancy was considering murdering him.

“We might as well get you a tux while we’re here.” Augustus said, surprisingly upbeat despite Sammy glaring at him. “This is a good thing.” He pushed open the door to the shop, ushering the Lawrence siblings in.

“This is not a good thing. I am dying.” Nancy glanced back at her brother.

“You heard him. This is a good thing.” Sammy didn’t even try to hide his smirk. Okay, that was it. She was definitely going to kill Sammy. Before she could form a proper plan, though, she heard a familiar voice from deeper in the shop.

“Nancy! Sammy! Mr. Delume! What are you all doing here?” She turned to find Joshua and Cordelia walking toward them. Cordelia looked ecstatic to see them. Joshua looked less than thrilled to see Sammy.

“We’re doing shopping for wedding outfits.” Nancy said. “For Lewis’ wedding. And maybe ours.” She reached for Augustus’ hand, squeezing it. Augustus smile, his cheeks going a little pink.

“That’s pretty much what we’re doing too.” Joshua said. “Dee was worried she didn’t have anything nice enough for a wedding.”

“I’ve never really been to one before.” Cordelia smiled sheepishly.

“Well, you’re definitely going to at least two this year.” Nancy looked back at Sammy with a big grin. “Maybe three if you and Joshy end up tying the knot.” Sammy narrowed his eyes.

“This is gonna be fun.” Joshua muttered under his breath, his smile beginning to look a tad forced.

“I-I don’t know about that.” Cordelia went bright red. “Not t-that I wouldn’t like it.”

“We can talk about it later.” Joshua reassured her, squeezing her hand comfortingly. Augustus had wandered off by this point to find some tuxedos for him, Sammy, and Joshua. He didn’t particularly want to be around while Nancy antagonized her brother. Or at least, he didn’t want to be around too much for it.

“Anyway, um,” Cordelia cleared her throat. “I’m glad we all bumped into each other. It’s more fun to shop together!”

“I am kind of curious what kind of wedding dress you’d pick out.” Joshua agreed, looking at Nancy.

“I found some suits!” Augustus called from further in. “Could Joshua and Sammy come back here to try them on? I can’t quite remember their measurements.”

“We’ll be there in a second!” Joshua called back. Before Sammy could protest, the smaller man had grabbed his arm and dragged him toward Augustus’ voice.

“Let’s find some dresses,” Nancy suggested, taking Cordelia’s arm. “They might be a bit.”


	21. Chapter 21

...

“What the fuck is your problem?” Joshua asked once Sammy and him met up with Augustus. “You’re being an ass.” Sammy glared at him.

“In case you forgot, I haven’t seen my sister since she was a kid!” Sammy snapped back before gesturing to Augustus. “I don’t even know him! How do I know that he’s not a serial killer!”

“You kinda lost that right to judge when you decided to not jump ship.” Joshua snapped and Sammy looked like he was smacked between the eyes. “Because you decided to stay until it was too late, we’ve had to deal with the gossip, with the bullshit, and with the people who decided to offer their own advice on what should’ve been done in the first place.” Joshua wasn’t yelling or anything, he looked angry and irritated for sure, but it wasn’t like he was about to fight Sammy. “I’m sick and tired of trying to placate and being easy on you guys since you’ve returned, but I’m done. I'm just done. Nobody’s fucking innocent here, so stop acting like things can be back to what it was when the studio was open and that Joey's the only person who did horrible shit. This is the only warning you’re going to get; stop being an asshole or you’re going to wish you were back in that hellhole.” Sammy looked at Augustus, expecting the cheerful man to correct Joshua but the man didn’t say anything like that, only sighing softly before handing a suit set for Sammy to try.

“Here, this might be a good fit to start with.” Sammy took the suit and slowly walked to the fitting room area, mulling over the recent event before running into Matt.

“O-Oh, sorry man!” Matt laughed brightly. “Just getting my tux tailored. What about you?”

“Oh, I’m trying one on…” Sammy said slowly, wondering how he should go about the conversation with his ex’s brother. “I’ve...never been to a wedding admittedly…”

“Really?” Matt asked curiously and Sammy blushed, realizing that he spoke aloud.

“W-Well, I mean, I didn’t get invited to the weddings my father officiated!” Sammy said quickly. “I mean it’s not one of those things I was ever interested in…” Matt chuckled.

“I gotcha.” He said. “I’ve only been to a few family ones, though you can hardly call them “traditional” weddings...last one had the cake get knocked into…” Sammy looked at him in shock as the man shrugged. “Minor shoving match,”

“I’d hardly call that minor…” Matt laughed as he placed his hand on his hip.

“Yeah, I guess; so you’ve heard about Nancy and Gussy getting ready to tie the knot too huh? I've heard that this time of year was popular but I always thought it was a bit ridiculous, heheh,” Sammy looked understandably confused. “Nancy’s guy, Augustus?”

“You call him Gussy?”

“Yeah, yeah! That was Ruby’s doing; you know how kids can be,” He chuckled before smiling softly. “Guys a smart dude, knew how to spin the whole thing to his advantage too…” Matt chuckled, though Sammy was still confused. “Oh, hey, I know that something’s up with you and Sue, but if you don’t mind...can I ask about her? I mean we haven’t really been in contact ‘n all for years and now she’s back around...I’m just kinda curious you know?” Sammy looked hesitant but smiled softly.

“Yeah...I suppose I might have answers that can satisfy your curiosity…” Matt beamed brightly.

“Sweet!”

“But if she asks, you’re going to have to say that you got it from Wally.” Matt laughed.

“Gotcha chief!”

.

* * *

.

“Jacob?” He looked at the little girl as they walked back to Henry’s house after school.

“Yeah, Ruby?”

“Is the studio coming back?” Jacob raised an eyebrow and the quiet. “Some of the big kids were talking about it and some of the teachers were too…” She looked at the ground before looking up at the teen. “They said that it was on the news that the consilly people made a decision and they’re gonna talk to the other person who owned it…” She looked nervous. “The mean people aren’t gonna come back and yell at Daddy and Aunt Nancy again...are they? I-I mean I like Bendy and Boris and Misses Alice and I like that everybody is h-happy but I don’t want those mean people coming back and start yelling at Daddy or anybody again!” Jacob’s face fell before he kneeled in front of the girl, who was rubbing her eyes, fighting back tears at the thought of dealing with that drama again.

“Ruby, there’s always going to be people like that,” He said gently as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Even without the studio and those stupid shorts, they’d find some reason to yell at everybody; your Daddy for being the military, or not marrying a lady to give you a step-mom; for Nancy because she’s a tattoo artist or a business owner when Father Lawrence is a preacher...but the thing is that you’ve got to ignore them when they try to egg you on. There’s only so much energy everybody’s got in a lifetime, and this much,” He held his arms out wide. “To do, so if they can’t help with that, then they shouldn’t get to even look at the little bit of energy.” He brought his hands closer to help illustrate the point. “Does that make any sense?” Ruby nodded slowly and Jacob hugged the girl. “It’s gonna be hard Ruby, but we’re going to make it. We got no other choice, but we're going to have make it...” Ruby hugged the boy back before Jacob stood back up. "Come on, let’s get to the house and see if we can keep Henry’s house from blowing up.” Ruby giggled as she took the teen’s hand.

“You’re being silly Jacob!”

“You’ve seen the chaos Bendy and Boris get into when nobody’s watching them.” Jacob explained as the two continued, unaware that the janitor had been within earshot of the conversation and had heard the whole thing.


	22. Chapter 22

….

“Dance with me Jakey~”

“My name is Jacob and I’ll pass Alice.” Alice puffed her cheeks as Bendy and Boris were struggling to keep a straight face as the boy was sitting on the couch with Joey.

“Will you dance with me Jacob?” Ruby asked cheekily and Jacob gave her a smirk.

“What’s the magic word?”

“Please~!” Jacob laughed as he pushed himself up.

“I suppose with that logic, I can spare one dance for you.” Alice frowned and huffed.

“I’ll dance with you Angel!” Bendy said. “I’m a better dancer anyways.” Alice sighed dramatically.

“Fine!” Ruby giggled as she took Jacob’s hands and did the dancing that most toddlers knew, which was basically leaning back and forth and hopping in an attempt to keep time. Joey couldn’t help but smile as Jacob kept her from accidently bumping into things or into the other duo dancing. Susie smiled, chuckling as Wally entered the house, looking incredibly nervous.

“Hi Uncle Wally!” Ruby sang as Jacob helped her spin around. “I’m dancing with Jacob!” Wally smiled softly.

“That’s great kiddo…” He looked like he wanted to say more but kept his mouth shut.

“Wally?” Susie asked carefully before Wally looked at Joey.

“Joey, who was the other owner of the studio?” Joey looked at Wally in confusion, as did Susie.

“Henry was the one on the papers…” Wally seemed to visibly relax. “Why?” Wally looked at the two kids who were thankfully being distracted by the toons before he spoke.

“A-Apparently the city council decided what to do with the studio...They’re going to give the land back to the other owner...” Joey was quiet before he chuckled and wiped his face, confusing both Susie and Wally in the man’s reaction to losing his pride and joy.

“It only makes sense, that’s all.” He explained. “After all, who would be better than him? He didn’t try murdering everyone to fulfill some ridiculous fantasy.”

“Joey,” Susie started to say as the kids stopped their dancing as Joey’s chuckling was devolving into hyperventilating.

“Everyone loves him after all and he doesn’t even need to pay them to stay around him or be so pathetic they pity him and stay around him!” He devolved into sobs, leaving the two adults very awkward and unsure  on what to do. Ruby scurried over to Joey and tried to help calm him down, Bendy and Boris coming over to help as well, while Jacob gave the two adults a look.

“Subtle much?” He snarked before sighing. “This conversation should have waited for the man in question.”

“I-I-I just wanted to know who was in charge…” Wally muttered softly; apparently Sammy’s glare was genetic as Jacob was pulling it off to a t.

“It still could have waited until Henry and everyone else came back.” He said, as if he was scolding two children. “Everybody who was in the studio deserves to hear that at the same time.” He pushed past the two and knelt in front of Joey, and took the older man’s hand and tried to talk him down from the oncoming panic attack. Wally and Susie exchanged looks as Jacob, with the help of Bendy, Boris, and Ruby, managed to pull Joey away from the figurative edge.

At least for now.

.

* * *

.

“You look wonderful Nancy! That would be perfect for Lewis’s wedding!” Cordelia exclaimed brightly as the woman spun around the cocktail dress. Nancy laughed brightly.

“Yeah, perfect for wrestling and wrangling the boys if they roughhouse.” Cordelia chuckled.

“They won’t be that bad, Nancy, Sammy and them will also be helping to keep an eye on them!” Nancy’s face fell slightly.

“Yeah…” Cordelia made a face and the two of them sat down on the nearby bench.

“Nancy...what’s wrong?” Nancy sighed softly.

“I should be happy…” She whispered, looking at her hands. “I should be ecstatic he’s back...but…” She sighed sadly. “I’m not a little girl, Dee, I’m a grown ass woman….” She tightened her fists, fighting back tears. “A-And to think he can treat me like I can barely handle myself….” Cordelia smiled softly.

“He’s just having difficulty adjusting. He hasn’t seen you since you were a kid,” Nancy glared at Cordelia.

“Dee, I love you and you’re a great friend, but for fuck’s sake, you don’t honestly believe that, do you?! You’ve seen the way he’s been treating Joshua and laying down for Susie to walk all over; it’s like nothing fucking changed for him!” Cordelia winced slightly but sighed.

“He’s grasping for something familiar. He has spent years in the studio, so seeing everything that’s changed is probably terrifying him and he’s grasping at what familiar memories he has.….”

“Dee it’s been over a year since Henry first went to the studio. A few months, I can understand, even half a year I can let slide him being like this, but it’s been a _year_. It’s time to move on and stop acting like time and people haven’t changed.” Nancy stood up, brushing off her dress. “I’m tired of pretending that they’re they only people who’ve been through hell and that we need to walk on eggshells around them, especially when they’re acting as bad as those protesters when Chris and them came back from the conflict in Vietnam.” She looked at Dee. “Once Lewis’s wedding is over this weekend, there’s going to be some conversations we need to have, uncomfortable or not. With everyone.” Cordelia sighed softly as Nancy walked back to the dressing room, mulling over her thoughts and feelings in relation to her connections to the studio and those related to it.


	23. Chapter 23

Sammy felt like an asshole. Well, it was probably more than just _feeling_ like an asshole. He **was** an asshole. Joshua was right. He couldn’t just expect everything to go back to the way it had been before. Too much time had passed. Too much had changed. He needed to change too. He took a deep breath, looking around as the other men picked out suits. He needed to apologize to Joshua. He needed to stop treating Nancy like she was a little kid. God, he felt so stupid. Matt looked back at Sammy, noting that the other man had gone silent.

“You got quiet.” He said, gently elbowing Sammy. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I just…” Sammy smiled wearily. “Joshua said something earlier that I think I needed to hear.”

“What was it?”  

“I…I need to stop acting like nothing’s changed.” Sammy turned his gaze to where Augustus was standing with Joshua. “I need to accept that things are different now.” Augustus seemed to be worried about what tie might go with whatever dress Nancy would be wearing to the wedding. Sammy’s stomach twisted. Augustus and Nancy were in love. His sister was a grown woman now. She was able to make her own decisions. And she’d decided she wanted to marry this man. He needed to accept that.

“That’s good advice.” Matt nodded. “Joshua’s a pretty smart guy, huh?”

“Yeah.” Sammy felt the guilt bubbling up again. He was realizing now just how awful he’d been to everyone around him in the past year. No wonder Nancy and Joshua were so frustrated with him. He imagined Cordelia too was frustrated, to a certain extent, but she’d always been too nice to voice her complaints.

“Hey! Sammy!” His head snapped up as he heard Joshua calling to him. The younger man was still standing with Augustus but was waving Sammy over now. “You need to get a suit too!”

“Looks like you better get back to it.” Matt patted Sammy’s back. “I’ll let you go.” He started to walk away, but Sammy grabbed his arm.

“No!” He said, perhaps a bit louder than he’d intended. Everyone in the men’s section stopped to look at him.

“I mean, um, no.” Sammy’s face reddened and he lowered his voice. “I’d rather you stay with us. I…I still need to answer your questions about Susie.”

“Well, okay?” Matt smiled, a hint of confusion in his eyes. Sammy mumbled an apology before going over to Augustus and Joshua.

“Oh, hey Matt.” Joshua waved at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Just getting my tux tailored.” Matt held up the folded tux. “It’s been a bit since I had to use it.”

“Did you try on the suit?” Augustus asked, looking expectantly at Sammy.

“Oh, no. I got a bit…sidetracked.” Sammy smiled apologetically. “Um, could I speak with you?” Immediately Joshua tensed, but Augustus gestured for him to stand down.

“Of course.” He replied. He followed Sammy back to the changing room, where Sammy pulled the curtain closed, essentially leaving them alone.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Augustus asked, smiling politely. He still looked a little nervous, but he was hiding it rather well.

“I…” Sammy took a deep breath. “I want to apologize for the way I’ve been acting toward you. I’ve been…I’ve been kind of an asshole.”

“You have, yes.” Augustus’ smile softened. “But thank you.” He turned to leave but Sammy cleared his throat a tad awkwardly.

“I’m not done.”

“Oh. Alright.” Augustus stopped, turning back to Sammy.

“I haven’t been fair toward you.” Sammy continued. “And I want to wish you and Nancy all the best. She’s able to make her own decisions and I trust her judgment in deciding that you’re a good partner.”

“Thank you.” Augustus stifled a chuckle. “I appreciate your apology. I’m sure Nancy will appreciate it as well.”

“We’ll see.” Sammy laughed weakly. He wasn’t sure if Joshua was going to be all that eager to forgive him either, but he was certainly going to try. He had to learn from his mistakes and move on. If Joey could do it, so could he.

“You know, you remind me quite a lot of my uncle,” Augustus remarked. “In a good way, don’t worry. You’re both so stubborn, but you’d do anything for your family.”

“Thank you.” Sammy managed a smile, picking up the tux again. “I’d better try this on.”

“Come back when you’re done.” Augustus nodded, slipping out.

When he met back up with the others, Cordelia and Nancy had joined the group. Nancy had a dress slung over her arm, which meant he now had a reference for what color of tie he should wear.

“What did Sammy want?” Joshua asked.

“He didn’t threaten you, did he?” Nancy demanded, fire in her eyes. “Because if he did, I’m going to tear him a new asshole.”

“He just wanted to apologize for the way he’s been acting toward me,” Augustus assured her, kissing her cheek.

“Looks like you got through to him!” Matt slapped Joshua’s back, or at least tried to since his good hand was currently occupied. Joshua’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. He hadn’t expected Sammy to turn around that quickly.

“Did you say something to him?” Cordelia moved closer, taking one of Joshua’s hands in hers.

“I told him I was sick of walking on eggshells around him and everyone else.” Joshua shrugged slightly. “Things have changed and he needs to accept that.”

“It sounds like he did.” Cordelia smiled softly, squeezing his hand.

“It’s about damn time.” Nancy nodded definitively. “So, have you guys found anything yet?” Cordelia allowed herself a small moment of joy as the others began to fall into conversation. She’d been worried about Sammy. She was sure this wouldn’t be without its pitfalls and speedbumps, but at least Sammy was starting to make an effort. Now they just needed to get through the wedding. That was going to be something, she was sure of it.

.

Joey was holed up in a spare bedroom in a blanket nest he’d created. He’d stopped crying for the moment, but it was clear to everyone that he wasn’t alright. Wally felt terrible and so was staying away from Joey. He’d always been a bit bumbling when it came to pretty much everything so he was used to upsetting people. This was the first time he’d messed up this badly, though.

“Is Joey gonna be okay?” Bendy asked quietly, glancing at the stairs. He, Boris, Alice, and Ruby had been corralled in the living room by Susie and Jacob while Wally sat in a little ball on the couch.

“He didn’t look okay,” Ruby said. Jacob had gotten them all paper and crayons to draw with and Ruby had been trying to draw, but she was still worried about Joey.

“He’s…going through a lot of things right now.” Susie chewed on her lip. She knew exactly how he was feeling. They’d both done horrible things, but of the two of them, Joey’s crimes were certainly the greater. He’d always been so sure of himself, so confident in his actions. She imagined it couldn’t be easy for him to confront all he’d done, realizing it had all been for nothing.

“Everyone’s going through a lot of things.” Jacob let out the sigh of someone very tired of dealing with crazy shit. Susie glanced at him. He seemed wise beyond his years. Part of that was probably her fault.

“Is there anything we can do to help him?” Alice asked. She’d started tying ribbons around Bendy’s tail in an attempt to calm herself down.

“Maybe we could make him a drawing,” Boris suggested.

“That’s a great idea!” Ruby immediately lit up. “Daddy always gets really happy when I give him drawings!”

“Let’s make this the best drawing ever!” Bendy agreed. Together, the toons and Ruby crowded around a large piece of paper, beginning to put together their drawing. Susie looked back at Wally, who was muttering to himself.

“Don’t you go beating yourself up too.” She said. Wally flinched, hunching his shoulders and giving her a shaky smile.

“Sorry.” He tugged on the bill of his cap. “You’d think I would’ve learned not to just blurt things out by now. We just had a talk with Joey’s little niece about it too.”

“I’m sure you’ll work on it.” Susie smiled wearily back at him. “You’re better than the rest of us, at least.”

“Just don’t do something like that next time,” Jacob said.

“Yessir.” Wally gave him a goofy salute. Jacob rolled his eyes, but Susie could see a small smile forming.

In the bedroom, Joey wallowed in his self-pity. He’d never been all that popular when he’d been younger. No one had ever wanted to hang out with the weird sickly kid who was always drawing in the corner. Then again, he hadn’t exactly made much of an effort to make friends. It had just been easier to give up and keep to himself. But once he’d gone to college, he’d learned to pretend. He pretended to be everything he wasn’t; confident, charismatic, and competent. It had been easier than just letting people know who he truly was. Pretending had only gotten him so far, though.

“Everyone would be better off if I was dead.” He muttered to himself. If he’d never been born, everyone would have been happier. Esther wouldn’t have had to pick up after him, the studio employees wouldn’t have been killed and manipulated, Chris would have had a normal father who didn’t abandon him. Everyone would be happier if Joey Drew had never existed. He paused for a moment, then shook his head. He shouldn't do anything rash. God knows Esther would drag him back from Hell if he killed himself. 


	24. Chapter 24

....

“Looks like you guys have been busy,” Thomas chuckled as he came over to the toons and child after he came into the house. “What are you guys doing?”

“We’re making a drawing for Uncle Joey!” Ruby explained. “It’s gonna make him feel better!” Thomas smiled and ruffled the girl’s hair.

“That’s awfully sweet of you guys…” He said, judging from Wally curled up on the couch and Susie’s sheepish look, something had gone down while he and the others were out. Speaking of which, Bertie was busy showing Jacob how to properly tie a necktie and being surprised by the young man’s knowledge, which was an entertaining sight to behold, if only because Tom knew Bertie as the stuck up asshole that refused to believe that he wasn’t the only one who disliked Joey’s immaturity and was still getting used to this ‘nicer’ version of Bertie, and Lacie was helping her cousin and Linda bring in the groceries. “Where’s Sammy and them?”

“Sammy went with Nancy and Augustus to pick out stuff for the wedding this weekend.” Jacob said as he gracefully untied the tie Bertie was using as his example and handed it back to the man. “Whether it’s to supervise on the guys or the girls, I’ll leave it up to you.” Ruby made a face and looked up at Jacob.

“But they’re growned up, they don’t need supervision!” Ruby said, earning some chuckling.

“Well, Nancy’s his little sister.” Susie explained. “He’s going to be a little protective, especially since she’s got a fiance now and doesn’t really know him.”

“Excuse you.” Bertie glared at Susie. “My nephew is perfectly fi-”

“But Nancy’s all grow-ed-ed up Aunt Susie!” Ruby argued. “She doesn’t need to be watched like me!” Ruby placed her hands on her hips. “And So’s Miss Bell! And Mr. Gussy and Uncle Joshy!” Jacob chuckled as the other adult smiled softly at the girl’s well intended-if not a little naive-opinions.

“You are very right, Ruby,” Bertie said gently. “It is a little silly, but I think that’s ok, isn’t it? After all I’ve heard you say that silly people have to stick together, huh?”

“Oh yeah...Uncle Matt says that when I tell him he’s being silly…” She giggled as Bendy held up the paper.

“I think we got it done!” The toons and child looked over the picture and nodded. “Come on! Let’s go!”

“Be careful you four,” Bertie said.

“Will do Bernie!” Bendy exclaimed as they made their way upstairs. Bertie, to his credit, didn’t bother correcting the demon, instead opting to wiping his face and groaning in annoyance earning smiles from the other adults.

.

* * *

 

.

Henry sighed softly as he stopped in front of the studio, making his way back home with the paperwork that Mr. Cohen had given him during their morning meeting.

The studio was now his.

It was a legitimate surprise for Henry; he had honestly had expected Joey to replace his name on the building’s lease when he had left, but part of Henry chalked that up to the fact Joey was a big fan of avoiding things he didn’t like. That and the man was more than a tad forgetful. He chuckled and shook his head.

“Well, I’ll have to figure out what to do with this place…” He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “Maybe the others will have some ideas…” He shook his head. “I should probably wait till after the wedding…” He nodded to himself. “Yeah, I don’t want to distract from the wedding.” He smiled softly before turning to walk back home. “It has been a while since there’s been a wedding anyways and we shouldn’t be distracted by this news yet.” He chuckled and left the studio behind.

.

* * *

.

“Uncle Joey!”

“Joey!” Joey barely had time to look up from his fort before a piece of paper was shoved in his face.

“W-What the?” He managed before taking the paper and pulling it back and looking at the quartet of kiddos and the paper they handed him. Joey couldn’t help but feel his lower lip tremble as he looked at the drawing.

“That’s you!” Ruby pointed to the tall scribbly-looking humanoid with something spikey around the head, no doubt his hair, before pointing to the other “people” in the drawing. “And that’s Bendy and Boris and Alice! And me! We’re having a pin-in-ic!”

“See! It’s the park!” Alice chimed in, pointing to the background. “I made the flowers!”

“I made the food for the picnic!” Boris said before seeing Joey’s face. “Joey!? What’s wrong?”

“I-I-It’s wonderful you four…” Joey managed out as he wiped his eyes. “I-I just-” Ruby leapt into her grandfather’s arms and tightly hugged him, Bendy following behind.

“Wait for me!” Boris exclaimed as he leapt into the hug.

“Boris, you’ll break the fort!” Alice exclaimed in a panic, but was ignored and Alice sighed as the fort broke, blankets scattering over the place. “I told you didn’t I?” Alice’s glare didn’t last long as a small throw pillow was tossed in her face. “Hey!”

“Don’t be so wound up Angel Face!” Bendy’s head poked up from a pile of blankets as Joey took off the one that covered him and Ruby as Alice fumed and chucked the pillow back at the demon.

“I’ll show you wound up you little snot!”

“Pillow Fight!” Ruby yelled excitedly and Joey couldn’t help but laugh as the angel and demon fought for control over the destroyed fort as Boris tried to avoid the pillows as the wolf dove for cover.

.

* * *

.

“This is so cool~” Sophia sang as she spun around as she, Rachel, Isaac, and Marcus made their way back from practice. “I can’t wait for the wedding~!”

“You’ve mentioned,” Rachel chuckled. “But I’m sure it’ll be cool…”

“Do you think the toons will come too?” The youngest Klein asked and Sophia shrugged.

“I dunno,” She admitted. “I think they were invited, but I guess it’s kinda up to your uncle and Mr. Ross.”

“Have they even been to a wedding?” Marcus wondered aloud. “I don’t think there was a cartoon that was wedding themed…”

“I don’t think so…” Isaac said before he lit up. “Let’s ask Joey! I’m sure he and Henry aren’t busy right now, so I’m sure they can help us out!”

“I suppose it would be a good idea to see Aunt Susie and see how she’s doing,” Sophia said slowly. “I mean she looked a little skittish when she visited my step dad the other day…”

“Well, I want to see Boris and Bendy again!” Marcus laughed. “I mean I haven’t seen them since I went into the studio and twisted my ankle.”

“What?!” Rachel exclaimed and Marcus looked at her.

“You didn’t know? Jerry’s dog ran in there a few months ago for some reason and I chased after it…” Rachel and Jacob’s jaw dropped as Marcus scratched his chin. “It was a little weird admittedly, the dog ran off like somebody blew a whistle for it in there…”

“Maybe Bendy was whistling?” Sophia asked.

“Uncle Joey can’t whistle though…” Isaac said slowly as the children realized that they certainly didn’t have the whole story of what happened in regards to the studio. After a few moments of silence Rachel spoke up.

“W-We should probably go see Henry and Joey.”


End file.
